Steady as a Rock: Methodology and Moving Continents

Abstract

Alfred Wegener proposed in 1912 that the continents had once been united in a vast supercontinent which had begun breaking up in the late Cretaceous or early Tertiary. The pieces had then slowly moved to their present positions. Additionally, he advocated polar wandering in connection with paleoclimatic evidence. He elaborated his theory and supported it with additional arguments and evidence in his monograph, Die Entstehung der Kontinente und Ozeane of 1915 and in further German editions and translations including two English editions of 1924 and 1929. Geologists agreed that his theory of continental drift (hereafter, CD), were it accepted, would revolutionize the science. R. T. Chamberlin, a vigorous opponent, characterized the theory as follows: ‘If we are to believe Wegener’s hypothesis we must forget everything which has been learned in the last 70 years and start all over again’.¹ A firm proponent, Alexander Du Toit, concurred: ‘… the principles advocated by the supporters of continental drift form generally the antithesis of those currently held. The differences between the two doctrines are indeed fundamental and the acceptance of the one must largely exclude the other.’² First in the German and then in the English language scientific press debate over Wegener’s theory raged in the 1920s and 1930s.