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Remembering Alfred Wegener (1880 – 1930): Greenlandic and Polar
explorer and the father of plate tectonics
Denis M. Schlatter1*
1Helvetica Exploration Services GmbH, Carl-Spitteler-Strasse 100, CH-8053 Zürich, Switzerland
*denis.schlatter@helvetica-exploration.ch
_________________________________________________________________________
Alfred Wegener (AW) was born in the year 1880 in Berlin and died on the Greenlandic ice-cap in
1930. AW is best remembered as the founder of the plate-tectonics theory which he presented initially
in 1912 in front of a sceptical audience in Frankfurt. The audience was mainly hostile because AW
was an astronomer and meteorologist – hence a “non-geologist” who had postulated a revolutionary
geological theory. It was in 1929 when AW published the fourth and final edition of his book “Die
Entstehung der Kontinente und Ozeane” (Wegener 1929) shortly before his tragic death caused by
exhaustion in central West Greenland on the inland ice in 1930. This contribution aims to synthesise
how his four expeditions in Greenland in 1906-1908, 1912/13, 1929 and 1930/31 inspired his
revolutionary plate tectonic theory, and to highlight the achievements of AW with respect to the
modernisation of geology and polar expeditions. It is likely that during his expeditions AW observed
the phenomena of integer ice-masses breaking up in floating fragments (Fig. 1), and the phenomena
of icebergs drifting on denser water (Fig. 2). AW proposed that a supercontinent, which he named
Pangaea ("all the Earth") broke apart in the early Carboniferous (Wegener 1929, Abb.4) and that light
granitic continents float on heavy basaltic continents. AW postulated the idea of a supercontinent and
that the consecutive breaking up of it resulted in newly formed drifting continents. AW was one of the
first scientists to systematically gather geographical, geological, paleoclimatic, stratigraphic and
palaeontological evidence to support his theory (Wegener 1929). It was only in the 1950s that
additional evidence, from geomagnetics during oceanic research that discovered the mid-oceanic
ridge (McCoy 2006), supported the plate tectonic theory of AW. More modern evidence includes
satellite-GPS based measurements of land positions which allowed for the detection of the slow
movement of continents (Schwarzbach 1980). Subsequently the plate tectonics theory has been
improved as it has been recognized that it is not the continents that float on the ocean floor but that
continents and ocean floor form solid plates which move on the asthenosphere. Furthermore research
has now informed the community that there are multiple episodes of formation and break-up of
supercontinents, such as Pangaea, caused by convection systems in the mantle and now
demonstrable by various geophysical techniques. Besides the extraordinary and revolutionary
achievements of AW regarding the understanding of the evolution of the earth, AW was also a
Greenlandic polar explorer who modernized polar expeditions, with his efforts cumulating in his last
expedition to include overwintering on the inland ice and the construction of permanent staffed
basecamps in Mid, West and East Greenland. His last expedition was focused on meteorology,
investigating the role of the high-pressure system over the Inland Ice in controlling the weather
cyclones that travel from Eastern Canada to Western Europe. This became very important e.g. for
intercontinental flights and supply of
fighter aircraft from North America to
Europe during WW2. The focus of the
NAC+ conference is the
understanding of the mineral
resource potential of the North
Atlantic Craton and its correlation
from Canada through Greenland,
Scotland and into Scandinavia –
while discussing this topic, we honour
the retrospections and achievements
of AW, the father of plate tectonics.
REFERENCES:
McCoy, R. (2006): Ending in ice the revolutionary idea and tragic expedition of Alfred Wegener. University Press. 194 pages
Schwarzbach, M. (1980): Alfred Wegener und die Drift der Kontinente. Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft mbH
Stuttgart, 160 pages.
Wegener, A. (1929): Die Entstehung der Kontinente und Ozeane. Braunschweig Druck und Verlag von Friedr. Vieweg &
Sohn Akt.-Ges. Vierte umgearbeitete Auflage. Mit 63 Abbildungen, 231 pages.