👤 whose

Whose discovery of seafloor spreading transformed geology in the 1960s?

Quick Answer

Harry Hess is the geologist most closely associated with the seafloor-spreading hypothesis. He proposed it in the early 1960s.

The Full Story

Harry H. Hess, an American geologist and naval officer, proposed in 1962 that new ocean crust forms at mid-ocean ridges and moves outward like a conveyor belt. He called the process seafloor spreading. Hess’s idea explained why ocean basins have young crust near ridges and why old crust is scarce. Together with magnetic evidence, it became a cornerstone of plate tectonics and modern Earth science.

Key Facts

1.Hess proposed seafloor spreading in 1962
2.explains creation of new ocean crust at ridges
3.key idea in plate tectonics

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Suggested video title for this topic:

"The ocean-floor conveyor belt that changed geology"

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