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Article: plate tectonics
- Article from:
- The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
CopyrightThe Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information)
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plate tectonics theory that unifies many of the features and characteristics of
continental drift
and
seafloor spreading
into a coherent model and has revolutionized geologists' understanding of continents, ocean basins, mountains, and earth history.
Development of Plate Tectonics Theory
The beginnings of the theory of plate tectonics date to around 1920, when Alfred
Wegener
, the German meteorologist and geophysicist, presented the first detailed accounts of how today's
continents
were once a large supercontinent that slowly drifted to their present positions. Others brought forth evidence, but plate tectonics processes and continental drift did not attract wide interest ...