... deposits in present-day arid Africa, such as the Vaal River valley of South Africa. The theory of continental drift would become the spark that ignited a new way of viewing the Earth. But at the time Wegener introduced his theory, the scientific community firmly believed the continents and oceans to be permanent features on the Earth's surface. Not surprisingly, his proposal was ... -sounding measurements clearly demonstrated the continuity and roughness of the submarine mountain chain in the central Atlantic (later called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge) suggested by the earlier bathymetric meas...

• Word Count: 2775
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: Undergraduate