the direction perpendicular to the CuO2 G EO L O GY

planes and thus term the long-range CDW

order “three-dimensional” (3D), in contrast
with the essentially 2D nature of its short-
range partner. By comparison, the coherence
100 years of continental drift
length parallel to the planes exceeds 40 lat- One hundred years ago, Alfred Wegener laid the
tice constants. But the most unexpected re-
sult is that the two types of modulations stack
foundations for the theory of plate tectonics
differently from one CuO2 bilayer to the next
one: The 3D order simply stacks in-phase, By Marco Romano1 and Richard L. Cifelli2 plastic oceanic rock. This proposal contra-
whereas the 2D modulations are in-phase dicted the orthodox interpretation of Earth

only every other bilayer (1, 7). Furthermore,
the results corroborate previous findings (8)
that the long-range and short-range CDWs
do not simply convert into one another when
the temperature is varied, as one would ex-
pect at a standard phase transition. Instead,
the short-range modulations persist under-
neath the long-range CDW. Yet, with identical
wave vectors in the crystallographic b direc-
tion, the two phases are unlikely to constitute
A
lfred Wegener (1880–1930) was a lead-
ing explorer, geophysicist, and meteo-
rologist from Germany, and pioneer in
the exploration of Greenland (1). His
seminal volume of meteorology (2) is
universally considered a fundamental
manual for this discipline and was long a ref-
erence text for students and specialists. We-
gener’s preeminent scientific legacy, however,
is the continental drift hypothesis. He first
in contraction, which had been introduced
by Descartes and Leibnitz and expanded by
James Dwight Dana and Eduard Suess.
Wegener’s 1915 publication unleashed a
firestorm of debate. Among the few eminent
supporters were Émile Argand, an expert on
Alpine geology, and the South African ge-
ologist Alexander du Toit. The drift hypoth-
esis was so iconoclastic that it earned vitriol,
ridicule, and scorn from specialists, whose

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different orders.
No doubt, this puzzling phenomenology
will motivate much theoretical work. For ex-
ample, among the scenarios to be examined
are antiphase charge oscillations induced
in two consecutive CuO2 bilayers by oxygen
defects located in the intervening layer. Such
modulations pinned by disorder would in-
deed be short-ranged, quasi-2D, and likely
present both above and below the high-
field transition (8). Were such a scenario to
explain the short-range modulations, the
only genuine, intrinsically static CDW order
would be the high-field state. In any event,
whatever the final explanation is, because lo-
cating the boundary between CDW order and
CDW fluctuations is crucial for understand-
ing the interplay with superconductivity, the
questions raised by the high–magnetic field
results have far-reaching implications.
The findings of Gerber et al. raise more
immediate questions that mark out the
path for the next experiments: Is there a
single, sharp transition at some field value?
Is there a similar CDW modulation propa-
gating along the a-axis of the planes? What
happens at even higher fields? The answer
to any of these questions will certainly
move the field forward; a new chapter of
the cuprate saga begins. ■
REFERENCES
CREDIT: ALFRED WEGENER INSTITUTE, BREMERHAVEN
presented his thesis to the scientific com- own published records were premised on a
munity on 6 January 1912 at the Geological horizontally immobile Earth crust. Paleontol-
Society of Frankfurt am Main, but his famous
monograph on the subject dates to 1915 (3).
Wegener argued that, in the distant past,
Earth’s major landmasses were assembled in
a single supercontinent that began to break
up about the beginning of the Jurassic (see
the first figure). Subsequent fragmentation
and motion led to the current configuration.
Now universally accepted as the theory of
plate tectonics, Wegener’s thesis synthesizes
and explains an extraordinary range of facts
about Earth’s history and processes. It is to
the earth sciences what Darwin’s theory of
evolution is to the life sciences.
Earlier scholars such as Francis Bacon,
Alexander von Humboldt, and Eduard Suess
had recognized the matching Atlantic coast-
lines of South America and Africa (4). It re-
mained for Wegener, however, to fully explore
the idea of shifting continents and assemble
a diverse array of supporting geological,
paleontological, and geophysical evidence.
Juxtaposing continents like so many pieces
of a jigsaw puzzle, Wegener demonstrated
striking similarities between the geological Ancient supercontinent. Alfred Wegener postulated
structures, fossils, and rock sequences on op- the past existence of a supercontinent in which the
posite sides of the Atlantic. He commented continents were merged. The page shown is from
that once reassembled, these structures lined a reproduction of Wegener’s own copy of the 1915
up like rows of print on a torn newspaper [p. monograph, containing his handwritten notes, sketches,

1. S. Gerber et al., Science 350, 949 (2015).
2. J. M. Tranquada et al., Nature 375, 561 (1995).
3. N. Doiron-Leyraud et al., Nature 447, 565 (2007).
4. T. Wu et al., Nature 477, 191 (2011).
5. D. LeBoeuf et al., Nat. Phys. 9, 79 (2013).
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7. J. Chang et al., Nat. Phys. 8, 871 (2012).
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(2015).
10. J. E. Hoffman et al., Science 295, 466 (2002).
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12. B. Ramshaw et al., Science 348, 317 (2015).
10.1126/science.aad3279
87 in the first English translation; see (3)].
Using then-new geophysical concepts such as
isostasy (that is, the dynamic equilibrium be-
tween Earth layers of differing densities) and
radiogenic heat, Wegener envisioned conti-
nents as huge plates made up of mainly light
rock floating in denser, solid, but much more
1
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Sapienza, Università di
Roma, P.le A. Moro 5, 00185 Roma, Italy. 2Sam Noble Museum,
2401 Chautauqua Avenue, Norman, OK 73072, USA.
E-mail: marco.romano@uniroma1.it; rlc@ou.edu
and marginalia. At the top, Wegener writes “pull over the
bridges!”—a reference to earlier suggestions of sunken
intercontinental bridges.
ogists were quick to point to their own exper-
tise, some invoking the existence of sunken
intercontinental bridges (5). The strongest at-
tacks came from geophysicists, who could not
imagine what forces could move rigid crust.
Among the most hostile and bitter opponents
were Sir Harold Jeffreys and Rollin T. Cham-
berlin (6). As a consequence, the theory was

SCIENCE sciencemag.org 20 NOVEMBER 2015 • VOL 350 ISSUE 6263 915

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INSIGHTS | P E R S P E C T I V E S

Continental margins
Early Triassic (white lines)
PALEO-TETHYS
that Earth’s rotation is an inadequate source
Siberia for the colossal force needed to move plates.
OCEAN
The current view is that radiogenic heat
Europe North causes convection cells to develop in the
China asthenosphere (a ductile, upper part of the
North
America South mantle). This convection moves the overly-
PANTHALASSIC Turkey CIMMERIA
OCEAN PANGAEA China ing crust and uppermost mantle, which to-
Iran gether behave as a set of rigid plates. Viewed
Africa Tibet Indochina
South
Arabia in this way, continents are merely floating
America
Malaya passengers in a larger dynamic system (8).
GONDWANA
India Understanding is sufficiently refined that
Australia
Antarctica the future organization of continents can
TETHYS OCEAN be predicted. In about 250 million years the
continents will be reunited in a single mass,
Modern Earth North America a “Pangaea Proxima” (10) analogous to the
Pangaea first envisioned by Wegener (see
Siberia North
Europe
China
the second figure). The application of plate
NORTH tectonics theory extends well beyond Earth
Tibet South
ATLANTIC China itself, to include the possibility of active plate
Arabia India
OCEAN Africa tectonics on recently discovered extrasolar
super-Earths, potentially habitable planets

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PACIFIC South up to 10 times the mass of Earth (11–13).
OCEAN America CENTRAL
SOUTH The changing fortunes of Wegener’s hy-
ATLANTIC INDIAN
OCEAN pothesis provide an incisive and instructive
OCEAN
example of paradigm shift. Continental drift
was initially criticized and rejected, mainly
Australia on geophysical grounds. Paradoxically, ad-
Antarctica
vances in that realm later vindicated We-
gener and led to the plate tectonics synthesis.
Future Earth Major initiatives such as the Joint Oceano-
graphic Institutes Deep Earth Sampling pro-
Africa gram and its successors have led to profound
Eurasia advances in understanding the mechanisms
North that were so baffling to earlier generations
America of Earth scientists. A century of hindsight
PACIFIC South brings new focus to Wegener’s vision and
OCEAN America allows us to appreciate his pioneering argu-
ments. As T. S. Eliot noted in his 1942 poem
Australia Little Gidding, “We shall not cease from ex-
ploration, and the end of all our exploring
Antarctica will be to arrive where we started and know
Continental margin
Modern landmass Spreading zones the place for the first time.” ■
Mountains Subduction zones REFERENCES
1. M. T. Greene, Alfred Wegener: Science, Exploration, and the
Merge, break up, merge again. According to modern reconstructions, Pangaea formed about 300 million years ago Theory of Continental Drift (Johns Hopkins Univ. Press,
and began to break apart about 175 million years ago. About 250 million years from now, the continents will come Baltimore, 2015).
2. A. Wegener, Thermodynamik der Atmosphäre (J. A. Barth,
together in a new supercontinent, Pangaea Proxima.
1911).
3. A. Wegener, Die Entstehung der Kontinente und Ozeane (F.
soon shelved and forgotten. movement through geologic time (4, 8). This Viewig, Braunschweig, 1915).
4. A. Bosellini, Tettonica delle Placche e Geologia (Bovolenta
Beginning in the late 1950s, however, sweeping combination of evidence from
Editore, Ferrara, Italy, 1978).
studies of paleomagnetism, oceanic ridges, disparate sources, the “plate tectonics revo- 5. G.G. Simpson, Am. J. Sci. 241, 1 (1943).
and the relatively young age of oceanic sedi- lution,” is comparable to the Galilean or Co- 6. W. van der Gracht et al., Theory of Continental Drift
ments provided indisputable proof for the pernican revolution in astronomy (9). (American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Tulsa,
OK, 1928).
phenomenon of seafloor spreading. A revised Wegener’s early critics had identified criti- 7. E. Bullard et al., Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London A258, 6
synthetic theory emerged, based on studies cal flaws in his theory—most importantly, (1965).
in many disciplines. Numerical analysis, for the lack of a plausible mechanism (6, 8). 8. H. R. Frankel, The Continental Drift Controversy (Columbia
Univ. Press, New York, 2012).
example, upheld Wegener’s suggested fit of Wegener had envisioned continental crust 9. R. S. Dietz, J. C. Holden, Sci. Am. 223, 30 (October 1970).
Atlantic-facing landmasses (7). Reversal pat- as moving through the underlying oceanic
GRAPHIC: ADAPTED FROM (10)

10. C. R. Scotese, Atlas of Earth History, vol. 1, Paleogeography

terns of the Earth’s magnetic field, recorded
in mirror-image sequences on opposing sides
of oceanic ridges, convincingly identify those
ridges as spreading zones. In the terrestrial
realm, the apparent polar wander paths re-
corded in rock sequences document crustal
crust, much like an iceberg drifts through
water. As possible mechanisms, he suggested
centrifugal force related to Earth’s rotation,
and (perhaps) astronomical forces related
to precession of Earth’s axis. Skeptics legiti-
mately noted that oceanic crust is rigid and
(PALEOMAP Project, Arlington, TX, 2001). Copies of the
Atlas can be downloaded at: www.researchgate.net/
publication/264741875_Atlas_of_Earth_History.
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10.1126/science.aad6230

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100 years of continental drift
Marco Romano and Richard L. Cifelli

Science 350 (6263), 915-916.

DOI: 10.1126/science.aad6230

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