Morley-Vine-Matthews hypothesis
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The Morley-Vine-Matthews hypothesis, also known as the Vine-Matthews-Morley hypothesis was the first key scientific test of the seafloor spreading theory of continental drift.
Geophysicists Frederick John Vine and Lawrence W. Morley independently realized that if the seafloor spreading theory was correct, then the rocks surrounding the mid-oceanic ridges should show symmetric patterns of magnetization reversals, a record of the earth's geomagnetic reversals, captured in the cooling volcanic rocks. Morley's letters to Nature and Journal of Geophysical Research were both rejected, so Vine and his adviser Drummond Hoyle Matthews were first to publish in 1963. Later geomagnetic surveys found the patterns are in fact present, providing strong confirmation of the theory.[1][2]
[edit] References
- ^ "Philosophical Interpretations of the Plate Tectonics Revolution"
- ^ Fountain Henry. "Drummond Matthews Dies At 66; Studied Earth's Crust", New York Times, August 17, 1997.
