why did it take years for the theory of continental drift to be accepted
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Continental drift The theory of continental drift was not accepted for many years. One problem was that a plausible driving force was missing. A second problem was that Wegener's estimate of the velocity of continental motion, 250 cm/year, was implausibly high.(The currently accepted rate for the separation of the Americas from Europe and Africa is about 2.5 cm/year). And it did not help that Wegener was not a geologist.s late as 1953 – just five years before Carey introduced the theory of plate tectonics – the theory of continental drift was rejected by the physicist Scheidegger on the following grounds.
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High School Earth Science/Continental Drift An important piece of plate tectonic theory is the continental drift idea. This was developed in the early part of the 20 th century, mostly by a single scientist, Alfred Wegener. His hypothesis states that continents move around on Earth's surface and that they were once joined together as a single supercontinent (Figure 6.5).
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Centennial of Alfred Wegenerâs continental drift theory: the start of Earth systems science Alfred Wegener (1880-1930). Scientists still do not appear to understand sufficiently that all earth sciences must contribute evidence toward unveiling the state of our planet in earlier times, and that the truth of the matter can only be reached by combing all this evidence.lfred Wegener (1880-1930). Scientists still do not appear to understand sufficiently that all earth sciences must contribute evidence toward unveiling the state of our planet in earlier times, and that the truth of the matter can only be reached by combing all this evidence.
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Continental drift The concept was independently and more fully developed by Alfred Wegener in 1912, but his theory was rejected by some for lack of a mechanism (though this was supplied later by Arthur Holmes) and others because of prior theoretical commitments.
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Continental drift Continental drift is the movement of the Earth's continents relative to each other, thus appearing to drift across the ocean bed. The speculation that continents might have 'drifted' was first put forward by Abraham Ortelius in 1596.s late as 1953 – just five years before Carey introduced the theory of plate tectonics – the theory of continental drift was rejected by the physicist Scheidegger on the following grounds.
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- Rejection of Wegener's theory, 1910s–1950s. The theory of continental drift was not accepted for many years. One problem was that a plausible driving force was missing. A second problem was that Wegener's estimate of the velocity of continental motion, 250 cm/year, was implausibly high.
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Continental Drift: Theory & Definition Continental drift was a theory that explained how continents shift position on Earth's surface. Set forth in 1912 by Alfred Wegener, a geophysicist and meteorologist, continental drift also explained why look-alike animal and plant fossils, and similar rock formations, are found on different continents.art of the opposition was because Wegener didn't have a good model to explain how the continents moved apart. Though most of Wegener's observations about fossils and rocks were correct, he was outlandishly wrong on a couple of key points.
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- He named the supercontinent Pangaea, meaning entire earth in ancient Greek. Wegener further suggested that Pangaea broke up long ago and that the continents then moved to their current positions. He called his hypothesis continental drift.lthough Wegener's evidence was sound, most geologists at the time rejected his hypothesis of continental drift. These scientists argued that there was no way to explain how solid continents could plow through solid oceanic crust.
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Continental Drift: Theory & Definition Continental drift was a theory that explained how continents shift position on Earth's surface. Set forth in 1912 by Alfred Wegener, a geophysicist and meteorologist, continental drift also explained why look-alike animal and plant fossils, and similar rock formations, are found on different continents.late tectonics is the widely accepted theory that Earth's crust is fractured into rigid, moving plates. In the 1950s and 1960s, scientists discovered the plate edges through magnetic surveys of the ocean floor and through the seismic listening networks built to monitor nuclear testing.
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When Continental Drift Was Considered Pseudoscience Wegener published his idea in an article that April to no great notice. Later, recovering from wounds he suffered while fighting for Germany during World War I, he developed his idea in a book, The Origin of Continents and Oceans, published in German in 1915. When it was published in English, in 1922, the intellectual fireworks exploded.
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Continental drift As late as 1953 – just five years before Carey introduced the theory of plate tectonics – the theory of continental drift was rejected by the physicist Scheidegger on the following grounds. 1  First, it had been shown that floating masses on a rotating geoid would collect at the equator, and stay there. second problem was that Wegener's estimate of the velocity of continental motion, 250 cm/year, was implausibly high. (The currently accepted rate for the separation of the Americas from Europe and Africa is about 2.5 cm/year). And it did not help that Wegener was not a geologist.
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Wegener and Continental Drift Theory In spite of all the criticism, Wegener was able to keep Continental Drift part of the discussion until his death. He knew that any argument based simply on the jigsaw fit of the continents could easily be explained away. To strengthen his case he drew from the fields of geology, geography, biology and paleontology.
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- Although Wegener's continental drift theory was discarded, it did introduce the idea of moving continents to geoscience. And decades later, scientists would confirm some of Wegener's ideas, such as the past existence of a supercontinent joining all the world's landmasses as one. The Wegener Diaries: A virtual exhibition on Alfred Wegener's expeditions to Greenland between 1906 and 1931. 2  Plate tectonics animations: Watch the continents drift to their present positions, provided by the U.S Geological Survey.
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- Because of the First World War, Wegener's book went unnoticed outside Germany. In 1922, however, a third (revised) edition was translated into English, French, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish, pushing Wegener's theory of continental drift to the forefront of debate in the Earth sciences.
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Continental Drift: Theory & Definition Although Wegener's continental drift theory was discarded, it did introduce the idea of moving continents to geoscience. And decades later, scientists would confirm some of Wegener's ideas, such as the past existence of a supercontinent joining all the world's landmasses as one.Pangaea was a supercontinent that formed roughly 300 million years ago, and was responsible for the fossil and rock clues that led Wegener to his theory.late tectonics is the widely accepted theory that Earth's crust is fractured into rigid, moving plates. In the 1950s and 1960s, scientists discovered the plate edges through magnetic surveys of the ocean floor and through the seismic listening networks built to monitor nuclear testing.
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Abstract Geologists were forced to accept continental drift as part of plate tectonics, as overwhelming evidence poured in from other disciplines. All this was virtually unknown to Wegener. Consider what was known and not known at the beginning of the 20th century. State of geological knowledge at beginning of 20th century.
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January 6, 1912: Continental Drift! January 6, 1912 the German meteorologist Alfred Wegener presented in a lecture entitled Die Heraushebung der Großformen der Erdrinde (Kontinente und Ozeane) auf geophysikalischer Grundlage (The uprising of large features of earth's crust (Continents and Oceans) on geophysical basis) for the first time his hypothesis of the ancient supercontinent Pangaea, from which all modern continents split apart.
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- Alfred Wegener (1880 - 1930) Alfred Wegener proposed the theory of continental drift at the beginning of the 20th century. His idea was that the Earth's continents were once joined together, but gradually moved apart over millions of years.
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Alfred Wegener In his work, Wegener presented a large amount of observational evidence in support of continental drift, but the mechanism remained elusive, partly because Wegener's estimate of the velocity of continental motion, 250 cm/year, was high.
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Continental drift Continental drift. Continental drift is the movement of the Earth's continents relative to each other, thus appearing to drift across the ocean bed. The speculation that continents might have 'drifted' was first put forward by Abraham Ortelius in 1596. The concept was independently and more fully developed by Alfred Wegener in 1912, but his theory was rejected by some for lack of a mechanism. The idea of continental drift has been subsumed by the theory of plate tectonics, which explains how the continents move.
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High School Earth Science/Continental Drift His hypothesis states that continents move around on Earth's surface and that they were once joined together as a single supercontinent (Figure 6.5). Wegener's idea eventually helped to form the theory of plate tectonics, but while Wegener was alive, scientists did not believe that the continents could move.Figure 6.5: The continents fit together like pieces of a puzzle. This is how they looked 250 million years ago.lthough Wegener's evidence was sound, most geologists at the time rejected his hypothesis of continental drift. These scientists argued that there was no way to explain how solid continents could plow through solid oceanic crust.
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- CONTINENTAL DRIFT. Go to an interactive plate tectonics puzzle. Go to a printable quiz on continental drift. In 1915, the German geologist and meteorologist Alfred Wegener first proposed the theory of continental drift, which states that parts of the Earth's crust slowly drift atop a liquid core.The fossil record supports and gives credence to the theories of continental drift and plate tectonics.ONTINENTAL DRIFT. Go to an interactive plate tectonics puzzle. Go to a printable quiz on continental drift. In 1915, the German geologist and meteorologist Alfred Wegener first proposed the theory of continental drift, which states that parts of the Earth's crust slowly drift atop a liquid core.
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- Top 10 unbelievable historical concurrencies. The continental drift theory is the theory that once all the continents were joined in a super-continent, which scientists call Pangaea. Over a vast period of time, the continents drifted apart to their current locations. Alfred Wegener first supported continental drift.
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Alfred Wegenerâs Continental Drift Hypothesis One hundred years ago today Alfred Wegener presented his Continental Drift hypothesis to much derision and scepticism. Alfred Wegener first thought of this idea by noticing that the different large landmasses of the Earth almost fit together like a jigsaw.