EXPLORE: Theory of Plate Tectonics
1 READ: From Continental Drift to Plate Tectonics
Magnetometer, an instrument used to measure the magnetic properties of
the ocean floor. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia. Photo is in the public domain.
It wasn't until almost 30 years after Wegener's death that the scientific community realized his ideas about continental drift were correct. Advances in technology allowed scientists to map and study properties of the ocean floor in greater detail. Such developments would eventually provide scientists with enough evidence to fill in the gaps of Wegener's theory, and explain how the continents moved across the surface of the Earth.