The Continental Drift Controversy: Volume 3, Introduction of Seafloor Spreading
The Continental Drift Controversy: Volume 3, Introduction of Seafloor Spreading

Author: Henry R. Frankel

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2012-04-26

Total Pages: 493

ISBN-13: 1107377331

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The resolution of the sixty-year debate over continental drift, culminating in the triumph of plate tectonics, changed the very fabric of Earth science. This four-volume treatise on the continental drift controversy is the first complete history of the origin, debate and gradual acceptance of this revolutionary theory. Based on extensive interviews, archival papers and original works, Frankel weaves together the lives and work of the scientists involved, producing an accessible narrative for scientists and non-scientists alike. This third volume describes the expansion of the land-based paleomagnetic case for drifting continents and recounts the golden age of marine geology and geophysics. Fuelled by the Cold War, US and British workers led the way in making discoveries and forming new hypotheses, especially about the origin of oceanic ridges. When first proposed, seafloor spreading was just one of several competing hypotheses about the evolution of ocean basins.

Four Revolutions in the Earth Sciences
Four Revolutions in the Earth Sciences

Author: James Lawrence Powell

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2014-12-23

Total Pages: 385

ISBN-13: 0231538456

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Over the course of the twentieth century, scientists came to accept four counterintuitive yet fundamental facts about the Earth: deep time, continental drift, meteorite impact, and global warming. When first suggested, each proposition violated scientific orthodoxy and was quickly denounced as scientific—and sometimes religious—heresy. Nevertheless, after decades of rejection, scientists came to accept each theory. The stories behind these four discoveries reflect more than the fascinating push and pull of scientific work. They reveal the provocative nature of science and how it raises profound and sometimes uncomfortable truths as it advances. For example, counter to common sense, the Earth and the solar system are older than all of human existence; the interactions among the moving plates and the continents they carry account for nearly all of the Earth's surface features; and nearly every important feature of our solar system results from the chance collision of objects in space. Most surprising of all, we humans have altered the climate of an entire planet and now threaten the future of civilization. This absorbing scientific history is the only book to describe the evolution of these four ideas from heresy to truth, showing how science works in practice and how it inevitably corrects the mistakes of its practitioners. Scientists can be wrong, but they do not stay wrong. In the process, astonishing ideas are born, tested, and over time take root.

The Continental Drift Controversy: Volume 4, Evolution into Plate Tectonics
The Continental Drift Controversy: Volume 4, Evolution into Plate Tectonics

Author: Henry R. Frankel

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2012-04-26

Total Pages: 697

ISBN-13: 110737961X

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The resolution of the sixty-year debate over continental drift, culminating in the triumph of plate tectonics, changed the very fabric of Earth science. This four-volume treatise on the continental drift controversy is the first complete history of the origin, debate and gradual acceptance of this revolutionary theory. Based on extensive interviews, archival papers and original works, Frankel weaves together the lives and work of the scientists involved, producing an accessible narrative for scientists and non-scientists alike. This fourth volume explains the discoveries in the mid 1960s which led to the rapid acceptance of seafloor spreading theory and how the birth of plate tectonics followed soon after with the geometrification of geology. Although plate tectonics did not explain the cause or dynamic mechanism of drifting continents, it provided a convincing kinematic explanation that continues to inspire geodynamic research to the present day.

A Brief History of Geology
A Brief History of Geology

Author: Kieran D. O'Hara

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2018-04-19

Total Pages: 275

ISBN-13: 1107176182

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Approximately 200 years of the history of the development of the study of geology.

Science Under Attack
Science Under Attack

Author: Ralph B. Alexander

Publisher: Algora Publishing

Published: 2018-12-01

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 1628943653

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Evidence and logic are lacking in many areas of public debate today on hot-button issues ranging from dietary fat to vaccination. In Science Under Attack, Dr. Alexander shows how science is being abused, sidelined or ignored, making it difficult or impossible for the public to form a reasoned opinion about important issues. Readers will learn why science is becoming more corrupt, and also how it is being abused for political and economic gain, support of activism, or the propping up of religious beliefs. To illustrate how science is being ignored and abused, the author examines six different issues and the way they are currently discussed: evolution, dietary fat, climate change, vaccination, GMO crops and continental drift. In his research, he has gone back to the original source wherever possible rather than quoting second-hand sources, adding a degree of accuracy and nuance often missing. The controversial assertion that science does not support the conventional wisdom on climate change should be of particular interest. Alexander shows that the scientific evidence for a substantial human contribution to climate change is actually flimsy, and he demonstrates the fallacy of comparing the strong link between smoking and lung cancer to the much weaker connection between human activity and global warming.

The Continental Drift Controversy
The Continental Drift Controversy

Author: Henry R. Frankel

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2012-04-26

Total Pages: 627

ISBN-13: 0521875048

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Describes the expansion of the land-based paleomagnetic case for drifting continents and recounts the golden age of marine geoscience.

The Tectonic Plates are Moving!
The Tectonic Plates are Moving!

Author: Roy Livermore

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018-03-23

Total Pages: 557

ISBN-13: 0191027693

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Plate tectonics is a revolutionary theory on a par with modern genetics. Yet, apart from the frequent use of clichés such as 'tectonic shift' by economists, journalists, and politicians, the science itself is rarely mentioned and poorly understood. This book explains modern plate tectonics in a non-technical manner, showing not only how it accounts for phenomena such as great earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions, but also how it controls conditions at the Earth's surface, including global geography and climate. The book presents the advances that have been made since the establishment of plate tectonics in the 1960s, highlighting, on the 50th anniversary of the theory, the contributions of a small number of scientists who have never been widely recognized for their discoveries. Beginning with the publication of a short article in Nature by Vine and Matthews, the book traces the development of plate tectonics through two generations of the theory. First generation plate tectonics covers the exciting scientific revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, its heroes and its villains. The second generation includes the rapid expansions in sonar, satellite, and seismic technologies during the 1980s and 1990s that provided a truly global view of the plates and their motions, and an appreciation of the role of the plates within the Earth 'system'. The final chapter bring us to the cutting edge of the science, and the latest results from studies using technologies such as seismic tomography and high-pressure mineral physics to probe the deep interior. Ultimately, the book leads to the startling conclusion that, without plate tectonics, the Earth would be as lifeless as Venus.

The Continental Drift Controversy: Volume 2, Paleomagnetism and Confirmation of Drift
The Continental Drift Controversy: Volume 2, Paleomagnetism and Confirmation of Drift

Author: Henry R. Frankel

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2012-04-26

Total Pages: 545

ISBN-13: 1107377323

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The resolution of the sixty-year debate over continental drift, culminating in the triumph of plate tectonics, changed the very fabric of Earth science. This four-volume treatise on the continental drift controversy is the first complete history of the origin, debate and gradual acceptance of this revolutionary theory. Based on extensive interviews, archival papers and original works, Frankel weaves together the lives and work of the scientists involved, producing an accessible narrative for scientists and non-scientists alike. This second volume provides the first extensive account of the growing paleomagnetic case for continental drift in the 1950s and the development of apparent polar wander paths that showed how the continents had changed their positions relative to one another, more or less as Wegener had proposed. Paleomagnetism offered the first physical measure that continental drift had occurred and helped determine the changing latitudes of the continents through geologic time.

Sediments, Diagenesis, and Sedimentary Rocks
Sediments, Diagenesis, and Sedimentary Rocks

Author: F.T. Mackenzie

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2005-11-22

Total Pages: 448

ISBN-13: 0080525229

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This volume covers the formation and biogeochemistry of a variety of important sediment types from their initial formation through their conversion (diagenesis) to sedimentary rocks. The volume deals with the chemical, mineralogical, and isotopic properties of sediments and sedimentary rocks and their use in interpreting the environment of formation and subsequent events in the history of sediments, and the nature of the ocean-atmosphere system through geological time. Reprinted individual volume from the acclaimed Treatise on Geochemistry, (10 Volume Set, ISBN 0-08-043751-6, published in 2003). - Comprehensive and authoritative scope and focus - Reviews from renowned scientists across a range of subjects, providing both overviews and new data, supplemented by extensive bibliographies - Extensive illustrations and examples from the field