Plate Tectonics: An Insider’s History of the Modern Theory of the Earth PDF
Preview Plate Tectonics: An Insider’s History of the Modern Theory of the Earth
PLATE TECTONICS Boca Raton London New York CRC Press is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business First published 2003 by Westview Press Published 2018 by CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group 6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300 Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742 CRC Press is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright © 2003 by Taylor & Francis Group LLC No claim to original U.S. Government works This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. Reason-able efforts have been made to publish reliable data and informa tion, but the author and publisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or the consequences of their use. The authors and publishers have at tempted to trace the copyright holders of all material reproduced in this publication and apologize to copyright holders if permission to publish in this form has not been obtained. If any copyright material has not been acknowledged please write and let us know so we may rectify in any future reprint. Except as permitted under U.S. Copyright Law, no part of this book may be reprint ed, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, micro filming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers. For permission to photocopy or use material electronically from this work, please access www. copyright. com (http:/ /www.copyright.com/) or contact the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400. CCC is a not-for-profit organiza-tion that provides licenses and reg istration for a variety of users. For organizations that have been granted a photo copy license by the CCC, a separate system of payment has been arranged. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at http://www. taylorandfrancis.com and the CRC Press Web site at http:// www.crcpress.com A Cataloging-in-Publication data record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN 13: 978-0-8133-4132-3 (pbk) To the late Chuck Drake, who was always interested in peoples stories CONTENTS Acknowledgments IX Naomi Oreskes and Homer Le Grand Preface: History and Memory Xl Naomi Oreskes PART I THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND From Continental Drift to Plate Tectonics 3 Naomi Oreskes PART II THE EARLY WORK: FROM PALEOMAGNETISM TO SEA FLOOR SPREADING 2 Stripes on the Sea Floor 31 RnnMason 3 Reversals of Fortune 46 J Frederick Vine 4 The Zebra Pattern 67 Lawrence W. Morley 5 On Board the Eltanin-19 86 Walter Pitman 6 The Birth of Plate Tectonics 95 Neil D. Opdyke PART Ill HEAT FLOW AND SEISMOLOGY 7 How Mobile is the Earth? 111 J Gordon MacDonald 8 Heat Flow under the Oceans 128 john G. Sclater Vll Vlll CONTENTS 9 Locating Earthquakes and Plate Boundaries 148 Bruce A. Bolt 10 Earthquake Seismology in the Plate Tectonics Revolution 155 Jack Oliver PART IV THE PLATE MODEL 11 Plate Tectonics: A Surprising Way to Start a Scientific Career 169 Dan McKenzie 12 When Plates Were Paving Stones 191 &bert L. Parker 13 My Conversion to Plate Tectonics 201 Xavier Le Pichon PART V FROM THE OCEANS TO THE CONTINENTS 14 Plate Tectonics and Geology, 1965 to Today 227 John F. Dewey 15 When the Plate Tectonic Revolution Met Westem North America 243 Tanya Atwater 16 The Coming of Plate Tectonics to the Pacific Rim 264 William R Dickinson 17 From Plate Tectonics to Continental Tectonics 288 Peter Molnar EPILOGUE: CONTINENTS REALLY DO MOVE 18 Plate Tectonics: A Martian View 331 David T. Sandwell Notes 347 Further Reading 407 Index 415 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS THE IDEA FOR THIS PROJECT EMERGED FROM THE HISTORY Committee of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), then chaired by Ed Cliver. For some time, the AGU has been committed to the impor tance of history as a resource for the scientific community. With its com mitment to publications, oral history, and historically oriented themes at annual meetings, the AGU has been a model of what history can do for a scientific community, bringing diverse specialists together in ways that the daily practice of science rarely does. Beyond expressing our thanks to the AGU as an organization, we are particularly indebted to Ed Cliver. The idea for this project was Ed's, and he convinced us to take it on. Moreover, he stayed involved every step of the way: helping to iden tify and track down contributors, calling to check progress, reading man uscripts, and providing moral support and good humor all along the way. We also wish to express our appreciation for the 17 scientists whose essays appear in this volume. When we began this project, we did not know how our invitees would respond, and we had some concerns that they might be dismissive of history, as scientists sometimes are. This turned out not to be the case. On the contrary, our authors responded with enthusiasm and made time in their busy lives to take on this extra task. Each of them has been a pleasure to work with, and we have learned a great deal from our interactions with them. Nearly every one of our authors took additional time to help resolve discrepancies in the historical record; to discuss historical, philosophical, personal, and political questions raised by the history of plate tectonics; or to send us relevant reprints, photos, and interviews. To each and every one of them we are extremely grateful. We owe a special debt of gratitude to Xavier Le Pichon, Dan McKenzie, Peter Molnar, and Jack Oliver for extended conversations and email communications, and to local colleagues at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) John Sclater and Bob Parker for their constant willingness to help clarify technical points. Jason Morgan and Ted Irving were unable to write essays for this vol ume, but generously gave of their time to talk about their contributions. We are grateful also to SIO archivist Deborah Day, whose professional title scarcely does justice to the myriad ways she supports and promotes IX
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