ALFRED WEGENER

WHO IS ALFRED WEGENER

• A German polar researcher, geophysicist and meteorologist.
• Born November 1, 1880 in Berlin, German. Empire
• Died November 1930 in Clarinetania, Greenland
• Graduated as the best in his class at the Köllnische Gymnasium on Wallstrasse in Berlin

FOUR EXPEDITIONS TO GREENLAND

• First expedition was in 1906
• Last expedition was in 1930
• Wegener died during his last expedition

THE FIRST EXPEDITION

• Set up the first meteorological station near Danmarkshavn
• Launched kites and tethered balloons
• Was making meteorological measurements
• First time in Artic climate zone

THE SECOND EXPEDITION

• Were initially there to buy ponies
• Ended up crossing inland ice in northeast Greenland
• By the end of the expedition, all the ponies and dogs were eaten

THE THIRD EXPEDITION

• Were setting up for a different main expedition for later
• Tested a propeller-driven snowmobile

THE FOURTH EXPEDITION

• German government contributed $129,000
• In 2007, that would've equaled, $1.5 million
• Inspired the novel, "A Prince of the Captivity" that was written in 1933
• Written by John Buchan
• Talks about one of the men on the expedition

CONTINENTAL DRIFT THEORY

• All of the continents were connected once
• Wegener named the giant continent Urkontinent
• Urkontinent is German for "primal continent"
• Same meaning as the Greek word Pangea

WEGENER'S PLATE AND TECTONICS THEORY

• Created after he died, credit went to him though
• Samples from the ground in India started this theory
• Based off of Wegener's Continental Drift Theory
• With the introduction to the GPS
• It became possible to measure continental drift directly

PROS AND CONS

• Pro: Explains why the continents fit together
• Con: Many say that the oceanic crust is too hard for the continents to move
• Pro: Explains how certain tectonic plates are just like others around the world
• Con: Wegener was "out there" so it isn't highly accepted

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

• In 1980, the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research
• Located in Bremerhaven, Germany
• Awards Wegener Medal in his name
• The peninsula where he died was named after him near Ummannaq, Greenland

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS CONT.

• Wegener crater on the Moon
• Wegener crater on Mars
• Asteroid 29227 Wegener

WEGENER CRATER ON MARS

SOURCES

• Wikipedia on Alfred Wegener and Tectonic Plates
• commons.wikimedia.org
• jpl.nasa.gov