Mid-Atlantic Ridge and its rift valley
Dorsal mesoatlántica y su valle central
- Date
- 1872 / 1925 / 1953 · confidence high
- Place
- Mid-Atlantic Ridge (central Atlantic)
- Credited to
- Challenger expedition (early indications, 1872), German Meteor expedition (echo sounding, 1925-27), Marie Tharp and Bruce Heezen (map and rift valley, 1953-57)
- People
- 👤 Bruce C. Heezen1924–1977👤 Marie Tharp1920–2006
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
Soundings from the Meteor revealed a continuous underwater mountain range along the Atlantic; Marie Tharp detected in her profiles a central rift valley, coinciding with seismic epicentres, proof that the ocean floor is spreading.
Coordinates of a representative point on the ridge in the equatorial Atlantic. Tharp was initially dismissed by Heezen ('girl talk'); today she is recognised as an essential co-author.
What it led to
- Seafloor spreading (Hess)
- Plate tectonics
- Heezen and Tharp's global physiographic map (1977)
- Discovery of hydrothermal vents
Built on
- Challenger expedition: birth of oceanography1872-1876
- Echo sounder (Echolot)1913
- Echo sounder (1920s)
Made possible
- Bathymetric mapping with echo sounder
- Marine seismology