What was the Glomar Challenger and what did it do

Above: The Glomar Challenger was the first research vessel specifically designed in the late 1960s for the purpose of drilling into and taking core samples from the deep ocean floor.

When did Glomar Challenger help confirm?

Total distance penetrated below sea floor325,548 mNumber of sites investigated624

How did Ocean Drilling Program prove Alfred Wegener's theory?

As for the purpose of the scientific exploration, one of the most important discoveries was made when the crew drilled 17 holes at 10 different locations along an oceanic ridge between South America and Africa. The retrieved core samples provided strong proof for continental drift and seafloor renewal at rift zones.

How did drilling prove plate tectonics?

The Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) was an ocean drilling project designed to analyze the ocean floor. … This showed that new oceanic crust was being formed along the plate boundary and then spreading out laterally, providing evidence to support the theory of seafloor spreading and plate tectonics.

What was the Glomar Challenger equipped with?

For 25 years, the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) operated the Glomar Challenger, a research ship 400 feet (122 meters) in length that was equipped with a drilling platform and scientific laboratories.

What evidence did Hess originally support?

Several types of evidence supported Hess’s theory of sea-floor spreading: eruptions of molten material, magnetic stripes in the rock of the ocean floor, and the ages of the rocks themselves.

What is Alfred Wegener theory?

In the early 20th century, Wegener published a paper explaining his theory that the continental landmasses were “drifting” across the Earth, sometimes plowing through oceans and into each other. He called this movement continental drift.

How long did the deep sea drilling last?

Total distance penetrated below the seafloor325,548 metersDeepest penetration beneath the ocean floor1,741 meters

When scientists analyzed drilling samples from the Glomar Challenger study which discovery?

When scientists analyzed drilling samples from the Glomar Challenger study, which discovery did they make about rocks in relation to a mid-ocean ridge? Rocks closer to the ridge are newer. Rocks closer to the ridge contain more iron. Rocks farther from the ridge are denser.

Which information did the Glomar Challenger study in 1968?

It investigated some 624 sites in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans, not only revealing the presence of deep ocean salt domes (which themselves may indicate the presence of oil) but also supporting the theory of plate tectonics by providing evidence of continental drift and seafloor renewal.

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What is evidence from drilling samples?

The samples obtained from the seafloor drill reveals that the rocks away from the mid-oceanic ridge were relatively older than the rocks near to it. The old rocks were also denser and thicker compared to the thinner and less dense rocks in the mid-oceanic ridge.

What two important discoveries did scientists make about the rocks and sediments on the ocean floor?

Computer-generated topographic map of the Mid-Ocean Ridge [55 k] In the 1950s, oceanic exploration greatly expanded. Data gathered by oceanographic surveys conducted by many nations led to the discovery that a great mountain range on the ocean floor virtually encircled the Earth.

What are the objectives of ocean Drilling Program?

IODP project goals were to: resolve linked hydrogeologic, lithologic, biogeochemical, and microbiological properties and processes through analysis of sediment, rock, and fluid samples; determine the thermal, geochemical, and hydrogeologic conditions in basement; and install CORKs in the upper crust (Fisher, Tsuji, …

Why was Wegener's continental drift hypothesis rejected?

The main reason that Wegener’s hypothesis was not accepted was because he suggested no mechanism for moving the continents. He thought the force of Earth’s spin was sufficient to cause continents to move, but geologists knew that rocks are too strong for this to be true.

What evidence helps scientist show how seafloor spreading occurs?

The age, density, and thickness of oceanic crust increases with distance from the mid-ocean ridge. The magnetism of mid-ocean ridges helped scientists first identify the process of seafloor spreading in the early 20th century.

What was the first scientific expedition to use an echo sounder?

Echo sounders were first used for oceanographic studies during the epic German expedition exploring the South Atlantic in the mid-1920s aboard the Meteor. Today echo sounding remains the key method scientists use to make bathymetric maps of the seafloor.

How many volumes of information did the Challenger expedition produce?

The Report on the Scientific Results of the Voyage of H.M.S Challenger was issued in 50 volumes between 1880 and 1895; many of the data gathered at that time are still used today.

How was Alfred Wegener connected to Pangaea?

Wegener concluded that South America and Africa (as well as others) had been connected to one another, possibly through land bridges, some 250 million years ago. … Wegener used Seuss’s work to support his own continental drift hypothesis and considered Gondwanaland to be the southern half of Pangea.

What is Alfred Wegener's contribution to science?

Alfred Wegener proposed the theory of continental drift – the idea that Earth’s continents move. Despite publishing a large body of compelling fossil and rock evidence for his theory between 1912 and 1929, it was rejected by most other scientists.

Which evidence originally supported Hess idea of sea floor spreading?

Several types of evidence from the oceans supported Hess’s theory of sea-floor spreading-evidence from molten material, magnetic stripes, and drilling samples. This evidence also led sci- entists to look again at Wegener’s theory of continental drift.

Which statement best describes the theory of plate tectonics?

The theory of plate tectonics states that the Earth’s solid outer crust, the lithosphere, is separated into plates that move over the asthenosphere, the molten upper portion of the mantle. Oceanic and continental plates come together, spread apart, and interact at boundaries all over the planet.

What two additional categories of evidence supported the original seafloor spreading hypothesis?

Measurements of the thickness of marine sediments and absolute age determinations of such bottom material have provided additional evidence for seafloor spreading.

Which information did the Glomar Challenger study in 1968 quizlet?

Which information did the Glomar Challenger study in 1968? the age of rocks of various places in the ocean.

Which discovery did scientists make at mid-ocean ridges?

They discovered this by finding the age of rock samples obtained by drilling in the ocean floor. How did scientists discover that rocks farther away from the mid-ocean ridge were older that those near the ridge? Oceanic crust near the mid-ocean ridge is younger than the crust farther from the ridge.

When scientists drilled the seafloor to collect rock samples What did they learn about the age of the rocks?

3. ​Rock samples from drilling​ Scientists collected rock samples by drilling into the ocean floor and calculated the age of the rocks in the samples. The scientists found that ​the youngest rocks were at the center of the ridge, and the rocks got older as you moved away from the ridge.

What's under the ocean floor?

Features of the ocean include the continental shelf, slope, and rise. The ocean floor is called the abyssal plain. Below the ocean floor, there are a few small deeper areas called ocean trenches. Features rising up from the ocean floor include seamounts, volcanic islands and the mid-oceanic ridges and rises.

Why does the Earth not get bigger if sea floor spreading is occurring?

New crust is continually being pushed away from divergent boundaries (where sea-floor spreading occurs), increasing Earth’s surface. But the Earth isn’t getting any bigger. What happens, then, to keep the Earth the same size? The answer is subduction.

How deep does the ocean go down?

The average depth of the ocean is about 12,100 feet . The deepest part of the ocean is called the Challenger Deep and is located beneath the western Pacific Ocean in the southern end of the Mariana Trench, which runs several hundred kilometers southwest of the U.S. territorial island of Guam.

Which statement accurately describes how magnetic stripes in ocean rock provide evidence of seafloor spreading?

Which statement accurately describes how magnetic stripes in ocean rock provide evidence of seafloor spreading? C. The pattern of magnetic strips shows that the seafloor is expanding at mid-ocean ridges.

What feature of Earth is created at mid-ocean ridges?

Mid-ocean ridges occur along divergent plate boundaries, where new ocean floor is created as the Earth’s tectonic plates spread apart. As the plates separate, molten rock rises to the seafloor, producing enormous volcanic eruptions of basalt.

Which statement describes one event that happens at deep ocean trenches?

Which statement describes one event that happens at deep-ocean trenches? Denser plates slide under lighter plates.

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