THEORY OF WEGNER

The theory of Wegner is one of the revolutionary theories which explains the shifting of the continents’ position on the surface of the Earth. In the year 1912, a famous meteorologist and geographer Alfred Wegner had proposed this theory of tectonic plates. Wegner’s theory got rejected by mainstream science at that time but got confirmation and has been valued decades later. In order to determine the movements of plate tectonics in the lithosphere of the Earth, Wegner’s theory is taken into consideration by various geologists in this modern era. This theory has introduced the concept of the movements of seven major continents to today’s geoscience. 

Theory of Wegner: Overview

The theory of Wegner highlights the idea of continental movement of earth’s surface and is also considered as “continental drift theory” by present geoscientists. This theory was proposed by a well-known meteorologist and geologist Alfred Wegner in 1912. According to Sir Wegner, there was a supercontinent in the past namely Pangea, which gradually broke into various small parts and drifted across the present location in order to form several independent continents. The movements of the lithospheric plates are mainly indicated by rifts and ridges. Lateral displacement formation has occurred in the transformation faults of the offset axis of the ocean ridge. 

Pronunciation of Wegner

Wegner is one of the Germanic titles, which was derived from the middle high Germanic term “Wagener”. The meaning of the word “Wagener” actually means “one who makes wagons or drives wagons”. The word Wegner is generally pronounced as “w-EH-g-n-er. Weg-ner. Weg-n-er.” 

Wegner’s theory for the establishment of continental drift

Alfred Wegner proposed the Theory of continental drift in 1912, to clear up the concept of how a single supercontinent, Pangea, broke down into several independent continents. The theory of Wegner also further provides the geoscience with an explanation of the formation of rocks, and the fossils of animals and plants that can exist in seven major continents such as Asia, Africa, Europe, Antarctica, South and North America, and Australia. The word Pangea, in Ancient Greek, is meant as “all Earth”. Theory of Wegner also stated that the rocks formation has occurred side-by-side and this is the reason the land moved apart to form seven different continents. Among all the seven major continents Australia is the smallest continent and Asia is the largest one. On the opposite side of the Atlantic Ocean, mountains are formed ranging with the same rock structures, ages, and types. In the eastern part of Canada and the United States, the Appalachians are forming during the continental drift.

There are various mountain ranges formed by this process in locations like Ireland, Eastern Greenland, and Great Britain. After Wegner published the details of this continental drift in a book named “The Origin of Continents and Oceans” in 1915, various geologists denounced his theory. Continents and ocean basins are the fundamental relief features whose origins are mainly associated with endogenic forces that are responsible for the gigantic lithospheric plates’ movements in the crust of the Earth. In the year 1960, scientists like Henry Frankel claimed that the tectonic plate is one of the modernized updates of the continental drift theory proposed by Wegner. It has been also found that plate tectonics is about 3.6 billion years old and is considered the oldest mineral on the Earth. 

Conclusion

The theory of Wegner was proposed by Alfred Wegner in the year 1912 and it reveals the concept of continental drift. Sir Wegner has stated in his theory how a single supercontinent, Pangea, broke down into several independent continents. In the year 1915, Wegner also published a book named “The Origin of Continents and Oceans” to explain the various stages of the formation of oceanic basins. The stages of an oceanic basin that are associated with the process of continental drift are embryonic, juvenile, mature, declining, terminal, and suturing or the collision of the continents in the lithosphere of the Earth.