Remembering Wegener

Abstract Serious discussion of continental drift came to a standstill after the American Association of Petroleum Geologists’ conference in 1926. A few geologists, such as the two South Africans Alexander du Toit and Lester King, continued to support the theory of continental drift, but to the great majority, it was a dead issue until the 1960s. Real scientific support for lateral continental mobility came somewhat inadvertently afterWorld War II, when oceanographic research with vastly improved instruments received an enormous boost from national governments, particularly the U.S.

Navy. This research was not motivated by anything Wegener had written, and testing the concept oflateral movement was not an initial objective. During World War II the U.S.

Navy became interested in all aspects of the ocean, and afterward seafloor mapping became a priority for submarine tracking. This impetus turned into a massive, worldwide data collection effort. Initially, the purpose was only to produce worldwide seafloor topographic maps.

Soon maps of magnetic variations, seismic activity, and seafloor topography provided an array of maps that had never before existed. A door was opened, giving researchers a new view of the ocean. Continental maps were now augmented by maps of the ocean floor.