Andrei Carl P.

Dela Cruz
Grade 10 – Online 3 SCIENCE

Plate Tectonic Theory Origin

1. Who are the contributors of the Plate Tectonic Theory?

Abrahan Ortelius, Georges-Louis Leclerk, Antonio Snider-Pelligrini, Sir William Thomson, Emil Wiechart, R.D. Oldham, Joseph
Barrel, A.Mohorivicic, Alfred Wegener, Henri Becquerel, Pierre Curie, Marie Curie, Harold Jeffreys, Arthur Holmes, Marie Tharp,
Harry Hess, Frederick Vine, Drummond Mathews, and John Tuzo-Wilson.

2. What are their contributions?

 1596, Abrahan Ortelius (Cartographer) discovered that the Americas had been torn away from Europe and Africa.

 1858, Eduard Seuss(Geologist) points out that fossils of the Glossopteris plant are found in southern Africa, South America,
Australia, Antartica, and India.

 1872, Bathymetric Surveys unveiled an extensive submarine mountain ridge

 1896, Discovery of radioactivity (Earth’s interior was heated by radioactive decay, and the insides would be largely molten.

1897–1911 Delineating Earth's layered interior.

1912 Alfred Wegner proposes Continental Drift.

1927 Convection of mantle could drive the plates.

1953 Marie Tharpe recognizes mid-ocean ridge spreading.

1962 Harry Hess names "Spreading ridges.

1963 Magnetic striping of ocean floor gives relative ages

 1963 Hot spots defined; transform faults.

1960s defined the driving forces of plate tectonics

3. In your point of view, who do you think gave the most significant contribution? Explain your answer.

According to the video I watched John Tuzo Wilson has the most significant contribution in Plate Tectonics Origin Theory. John
Tuzo-Wilson had two major contributions to the solidification of the theory of plate tectonics, the introduction of hotspots, and the
recognition of transform boundaries. He accepted the idea of sea floor spreading by noticing the increase in age of island rocks with
increased distance from the Mid-Ocean Ridge. The other large contribution to the plate tectonic theory was the introduction of the
idea of a third kind of plate boundary. Up to this point convergent and divergent boundaries were recognized, but these did not
account for all types of plate boundaries that were observed on the ocean floor.