MOMENTAN AUSVERKAUFT
Über dieses Produkt
Product Identifiers
PublisherDover Publications, Incorporated
ISBN-100486617084
ISBN-139780486617084
eBay Product ID (ePID)329986
Product Key Features
Number of Pages272 Pages
LanguageEnglish
Publication NameOrigin of Continents and Oceans
SubjectEcosystems & Habitats / Oceans & Seas, Earth Sciences / Geology, Earth Sciences / General
Publication Year2011
TypeTextbook
Subject AreaNature, Science
AuthorAlfred WEGENER
SeriesDover Earth Science Ser.
FormatTrade Paperback
Dimensions
Item Weight11.4 Oz
Item Length8.5 in
Item Width5.5 in
Additional Product Features
Intended AudienceCollege Audience
IllustratedYes
Table Of Content1 Historical Introduction 2 The Nature of the Drift Theory and Its Relationship to Hitherto Prevalent Accounts of Changes in the Earth's Surface Configuration in Geological Times 3 Geodetic Arguments 4 Geophysical Arguments 5 Geological Arguments 6 Palæontological and Biological Arguments 7 Palæoclimatic Arguments 8 Fundamentals of Continental Drift and Polar Wandering 9 The Displacement Forces 10 Supplementary Observations on the Sialsphere 11 Supplementary Observations on the Ocean Floor Appendix References Index
SynopsisSince its inception modern geology has been faced with an important group of problems: explaining parallel formations that are separated by great distances of sea; accounting for isolated life forms in widely separated areas (such as lemurs in Madagascar and India); explaining pre-pleistocene glaciations, and similar problems. The usual explanation has been to assume the one-time existence of land bridges (such as the hypothetical Lemuria) or parallelisms or diffusion with lost intermediary steps. In 1915, however, one of the most influential and most controversial books in the history of science provided a new solution. This was Alfred Wegener's Entstehung der Kontinente , which dispensed with land bridges and parallel evolutions and offered a more economical concept. Wegener proposed that in the remote past the earth's continents were not separate (as now), but formed one supercontinent which later split apart, the fragments gradually drifting away from one another. Wegener created his supercontinent with attractive simplicity by tucking the point of South America into the Gulf of Guinea, coalescing North America, Greenland, and Europe, rotating Australia and Antarctica up through the Indian Ocean, and closing the remaining gaps. Wegener then explained various phenomena in historical geology, geomorphy, paleontology, paleoclimatology, and similar areas of science in terms of this continental drift. To back up his revolutionary theory he drew upon a seemingly inexhaustible find of data. Later editions of his book added new data to refute his opponents or to strengthen his own views in the violent scientific quarrel that arose. Even today this important question remains undecided, and geologists are divided into strongly opposed groups about the Wegener hypothesis. At the moment it seems to be gaining steadily in acceptance. It is one of the two basic theories of earth history, and since it has often been misrepresented in summary, every earth scientist owes it to himself to examine its theories and data., A source of profound influence and controversy, this landmark 1915 work explains various phenomena of historical geology, geomorphy, paleontology, paleoclimatology, and similar areas in terms of continental drift. 64 illustrations. 1966 edition.
