What was unknown to scientists during Wegner's time

Answer 1

During Wegener's time, there were several things that were unknown to scientists:

1. The exact mechanism of how continents move and what drives their movement was not known. Wegener proposed the theory of continental drift, but the mechanism behind it was not understood until the discovery of plate tectonics in the 1960s.

2. The concept of sea-floor spreading, which explains the creation of new oceanic crust at mid-ocean ridges, was not known. This process was discovered in the 1960s and provided additional evidence for plate tectonics.

3. The nature of Earth's interior and its layering was not well understood during Wegener's time. It wasn't until the development of technologies like seismic tomography and the study of earthquake waves that scientists gained a better understanding of the internal structure of the Earth.

4. The concept of plate boundaries and the different types of plate interactions (such as convergent, divergent, and transform boundaries) were not fully understood. This understanding emerged after Wegener's time with the development of plate tectonics theory.

5. The role of convection currents in the mantle, which is now recognized as the driving force behind plate tectonics, was not known during Wegener's time. It was only later, with the development of the theory of mantle convection, that scientists could explain how the movement of material within the Earth's mantle contributes to the motion of tectonic plates.

Overall, Wegener's theory of continental drift laid the foundation for our understanding of plate tectonics, but many of the details and mechanisms were still unknown during his time.