Ocean science
4 questions tagged Ocean science — spanning every one of the seven Ws.
When was the first underwater earthquake observatory installed?
Early underwater earthquake observatories began appearing in the late 20th century, with major seafloor monitoring systems installed in the 1990s and 2000s. They improved tsunami and tectonic research.
Whose observations first showed seafloor spreading?
Harry Hess is best known for proposing seafloor spreading in the early 1960s. He suggested that new ocean floor is created at mid-ocean ridges.
Whose idea was the modern theory of plate tectonics that explains ocean basins and seafloor spreading?
The modern theory is associated especially with J. Tuzo Wilson, Harry Hess, and Fred Vine and Drummond Matthews. Their work in the 1960s helped explain how new ocean crust forms and moves.
Whose work first explained the tides using the Moon’s gravity?
Isaac Newton explained tides as a result of the gravitational pull of the Moon and, to a lesser extent, the Sun. His explanation appeared in the 1687 Principia.