However, as an avid explorer of the planet, he had something to say about how it operated. He enjoyed fieldwork in Greenland to establish weather monitoring stations and made substantial contributions to climatology. A young Alfred Wegener.Īlfred Wegener (1880-1930) was a German scientist who specialized in meteorology and climatology.
Alfred wegener full#
Isostasy, how does it work? (5:22) Professor Wheeler uses a big aquarium full of water as an analog (model) for the Earth’s mantle and boxes for the Earth’s continental crust.Ĭontinental Drift Figure 2.1.1. This process involved the continents and ocean basins sinking and rising up as they experienced changes in density. Video 2.1.1 Visualize how the contracting Earth hypothesis would explain mountains and valleys on Earth (1:22).įurthermore, these scientists thought new landscapes formed through a process called isostasy. Where they went wrong, however, is the belief that the cooling outer shell contracted like a dried-out raisin. Case in point: until the mid-1900s we believed our planet formed all its breath-taking features by “squeezing” them out! These scientists rightly believed that Earth was a ball of hot, molten material when it first formed in space. Science is an evolving thing, which means that scientists don’t always get it right. Some areas, like Arizona, are home to amazing mountain ranges and valleys, and others are island destinations. Other times, the ground shakes in certain places. How can we explain the movement of land around us over long periods of time? Sometimes volcanoes spring up when there were previously none. 2.1 Alfred Wegener and the Strange Idea of Drifting ContinentsĬharlene Estrada Our “Contracting Earth”?
0 kommentar(er)
