Why do mountains form, earthquakes happen, and volcanoes form where they do? The answer is plate tectonics. This week we explore the history of being wrong about how the Earth works.

Shannon’s Keyboard

Plate Tectonics

Tectonics is from the Greek tekton or “builder”
Ben Franklin’s Letter
Alfred Wegener
The Origin of Continents and Oceans (Book by Wegener)
Mesosaurus
Arthur Holmes (1928)
NOAA Seafloor Spreading Activity
Seafloor spreading proposed by Hess and Dietz
B.O.B and NDGT rap battle about the shape of the Earth
John Tuzo Wilson
Mantle Convection
Slab Pull
Chain demonstration

Plate Boundaries

Fun Paper Friday

How does cement harden? Does it turn into a continuous material or is it still a bunch of grains stuck together? Find out with this week’s Fun Paper Friday!

MIT News Story on Research
Ioannidou, K., Krakowiak, K. J., Bauchy, M., Hoover, C. G., Masoero, E., Yip, S., et al. (2016). Mesoscale texture of cement hydrates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 201520487–6. http://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1520487113

Contact us:

Show - www.dontpanicgeocast.com - @dontpanicgeo - show@dontpanicgeocast.com

John Leeman - www.johnrleeman.com - @geo_leeman

Shannon Dulin - @ShannonDulin

Episode 55 - "Every time you clip your fingernails" Plate Tectonics