Premium
Paleomagnetism, continental drift, and plate tectonics
Author(s) -
Van der Voo Rob
Publication year - 1975
Publication title -
reviews of geophysics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 8.087
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1944-9208
pISSN - 8755-1209
DOI - 10.1029/rg013i003p00195
Subject(s) - continental drift , paleomagnetism , plate tectonics , period (music) , tectonics , geology , geophysics , paleontology , earth science , history , philosophy , aesthetics
The title of this chapter might induce the reader to expect rather more than what actually is being offered; this review restricts itself to those aspects of paleomagnetism that are related to continental drift, polar wandering, and plate tectonics, and vice versa. A sensu lato interpretation would not only lead to a lengthy recitation; it would also in fact be an impossible task to list all U.S. contributions for the period 1970–1974, so pervasive have the mobilistic concepts been in gaining acceptance in all subdisciplines of the earth sciences. Below, the accomplishments and highlights of the past 4 years are reviewed. Emerging and remaining questions that still require satisfactory answers are occasionally outlined. The publications in paleomagnetism as it relates to tectonics can be classified in three major categories. The first category comprises the contributions that have provided the details for those theories that gradually gained acceptance during the period of 1960–1970. Then there are the publications that contributed in the last 4 years to the successful formulation of tectonic ideas, which previously were just emerging or not even thought of. Finally, I will mention those contributions that outlined newly emerging areas of research but that await independent confirmations and/or more concise formulations. The following sections roughly follow this trend.