How Plate Tectonics was Discovered

Produced in 1970, this magnificent and historically significant documentary walks the student through the overwhelming evidence that convinced geologists during the 1960's and 1970's to adopt Plate Tectonics as the unifying theory of the Earth's geology, replacing over 200 years of previous thought on the subject. The revolution has fundamentally altered how we see the earth and how we understand its features.

What is also exciting is that this film contains many interviews given by some of the greatest minds in geology during the 20th century...that alone makes this film worth watching. However, the glaring omission of Marie Tharp and Bruce Heezen's seafloor mapping work and the contributions of USGS geologist George Plafker is evident. Perhaps someday a new documentary video will be produced that gives them the credit they are due.

[gfurstnsu]

I was a graduate student at her Fairbanks University of Alaska back in 1965-7 studying the basalts in the central Alaska region. On area of my studies found a mixture of basalts, prettified wood, deep sea shells, all mixed together. When I wrote my thesis I stated that this could be a area of collision between an island arc and the Brooks Range. The department professors found my ideas as crazy. I was not allowed to put my speculation in my thesis. Now we know that Alaska is made up of a number of land units that have collided against the Brooks range to make much of the land mass of Alaska. At the time plate tectonics was not believed by many of the professors and the definitive proof was a few years later provided that revolutionized the field of geology. This video summarizes our knowledge as of the period around 1970. It is an old video but still quite accurate. We now have an even more detailed understanding of plate tectonics. Much of the information provided here was collected to support the “Cold War”. The knowledge of the earth’s surface was critical at the time.

[jockmoron]

This documentary is now an important scientific historical document. For younger people learning about "continental drift", now called plate tectonics it is an ideal introduction to the topic. As a 76 year old interested person I have lived through all this changing perspective, from a puzzle to a fact. Such scientists as feature in this documentary will all be dead by now, I assume, but they should honoured as heroes in scientific history. Also educative to our youngsters that you don't need super-computers or video screens to accomplish scientific investigation, just an open mind and a willingness to think outside the box and a lot of tracing paper. Also loved the wobbly sound track - Stravinsky's Firebird Suite never sounded more mysterious. Christopher Chataway, narrator, another blast from the past, world class runner, who paced Roger Bannister for the first sub-four minute mile, later Tory minister, business man and TV announcer. As was said, all the geology books needed total rewriting.

[mateuszmattias]

Dr Maurice Brown from the 40:00 minutes mark, it's fascinating to hear him describe in 1970 more or less what would happen at Mt St Helens a mere ten years later.

[stevet]

Not sure how many people are aware that the narrator, Chris Chataway, was a world class athlete and in 1954 held the world record for the 5000m. He was also, along with Chris Brasher, one of the pacemakers when Roger Bannister broke the 4 minute mile. When I first attended grammar school in 1963 he was one of the school governors and spoke at that years Founders Day.

[DennyG-xjti]

Thank you for reviving this wonderfully informative educational movie. EVERYONE needs to see it! I learned about plate tectonics and continental drift in 1972 as I started my career in geology. Very cool stuff then and now. It's very sad that 50 years later I am still seeing (and hearing) people talk about things like dinosaurs and palm trees in far northern latitudes as if they are examples of past global climate change without ever considering the fact that the continents themselves have moved in the last 200 million years. People, please always consider the 4th Dimension (Time) when thinking or talking about planet Earth. Yes, palm trees may have grown on the land we now call Alaska, BUT that land was not at the same latitude then as it is today. In fact, just yesterday (Dec 27, 2023) I heard well-meaning people on a podcast falling all over themselves to explain how T-Rex could have survived in the low sunlight near the Arctic Circle (because that's where their fossil bones were found). Yikes! My ears nearly melted! 😜

[Caperhere]

I’m at retirement age now. Couple of decades ago, I overheard a little girl talking to her dad about Plate tectonics. I’d never heard the phrase before, and looked it up when I got home. I still remember my amazement that such a thing existed, that I’d somehow missed knowing about it, and that a little child could know so much more than what I had always imagined was a well read adult, lol.

[elkiton]

Simple lo tech teaching with very good diction, no histrionics or gasping of breath in anticipation. A pleasant way to I at 75 remember it. And most important, no recap of the last section every 10 minutes to allow for adverts insertion and visiting channel done finding this excellent footage.

[kathleenlange]

I’m a 71 yr old American woman, Midwest. Our teacher talked about “continental drift” in grade school, so it had to be 1962 or earlier. We all looked at the globe and it certainly looked possible to us kids that our hemisphere and Africa/Europe could have fit together at some point.

[occamraiser]

It breaks my heart that 'Horizon' faded into irrelevance when it went all 'green' and 'touchy-feely'.
This was an awesome program which showed the BBC and public service broadcasting at its very best. The episodes on Silicon-chips in the early 70s, and the one about computers and the prospect for home computers were the harbingers of a technological and societal tsunami. Horizon's programs on High energy Physics, Astronomy and most memorably 'vision and colour perception' were the reason I took sciences at VIth Form - a decision that I have never regretted for an instant. Please accept my lifetime of thanks, anyone who was involved in the 1970s/1980s Horizon.

[donrobertson]

I remember finding an old geology book at school that had 'land bridges' connecting the continents to explain how similar animals and plants were found in different places. These land bridges had then disappeared - perhaps taking Atlantis with them.

Then we heard about continental drift ...

[dixietenbroeck]

SO HAPPY TO SEE THIS! As a young girl growing up in the hills of western Oregon in 1959, I attended what became my final year at an 8-grades, 2-room, country school. (We were "consolidated into the city schools" after that year.)
I was 8.5 years old, then, and just starting 4th grade. (I had skipped 2nd grade, so was young for the grade.) While I was idly looking at the classroom's World Globe, rotating it slowly, I noticed that the continents and large islands of the world globe _MIGHT_ be able to do something mighty peculiar... _IF!!!_ *_IF_* you were able to "magically" slide the continents & large islands around, like pieces of a jig-saw puzzle, they would pretty much all fit back together into a much larger land mass. *HOW **_WONDERFUL, _** & what a **_MARVELOUS REVELATION_* to my young mind - *_THIS_** WAS **_EXCITING!_*
I very quickly told my teacher, Mrs. Hassler, trying to _SHOW_ her what I'd discovered, but she not only didn't agree with my "findings, " not one little bit, *SHE **_WOULDN'T EVEN LOOK!_* Mrs. Hassler insisted that *"GOD* made the world - *_EXACTLY AS IT IS, _* - AND *IT HASN'T CHANGED **_ANY_** IN OVER THIRTY-FIVE HUNDRED YEARS - **_NOT ONE LITTLE BIT_** - SINCE IT WAS MADE!"*
*_WHOA, _*_ THAT_ was rather surprising. Up until that moment, I'd had quite a lot of respect for my teacher, but _THAT RESPECT_ melted away very fast! She had always come across as sensible & level-headed, but her "knee-jerk" (and _VERY_ religious) reaction to a little girl's "world view enthusiasm" was startling! She wouldn't even look... 😕
I'm glad my "childish observations" were proven correct, and in not too many more years, either. It had appeared so very, _VERY, _ obvious to my young brain that those "jigsaw puzzle pieces" could be fitted back together - NEATLY! - and that was *FULLY AS OBVIOUS* _AS THAT_ *THE EARTH IS A GLOBE!* (But that's a different issue, now, *isn't it?!)* 👍😊👋

Edit x2: punctuation, only

[samgunn]

I was in the second grade in 1970. Throughout the years I remember how excited my geography teachers were about the evidence of plate tectonics. I always liked geography and did well in it, I think, due to the exuberance of curious teachers.

[tm_]

Vintage documentaries are something else ❤
true passion for the topics, simple words, no special effects of the images, calm and clarity in speaking.
What emerges is just the will of sharing knowledge, to build a better humankind, and not the will to impress people for getting attention and money, like it's now.

[kaloarepo]

Seventeenth century Danish Catholic bishop (he converted to Catholicism and moved to Italy) Nicholas Steno should be given a lot of credit for being one of the quite early scientists that realized that the earth had been subject to a lot of movements and cataclysms - the fossil of a fish was discovered in the mountains of Tuscany and from the dentition Steno was able to demonstrate that this was the same species of fish being caught on the Tuscan coast by local fishermen -he then concluded that the Tuscan mountains had once been under the sea and some sort of cataclysmic event had raised the sea bed up. He was an absolute pioneer in the development of the science of stratigraphy which examines the different layers of the earth - a discovery that was an essential prelude to the formulation of the theory of continental drift.

[mateuszmattias]

Two of the young researchers in the film I found, Dan McKenzie these days emeritus in Cambridge, and Terry Tullis, then UCLA, now emeritus at Brown.
It must put your professional life in an interesting perspective being able to see a young version of yourself in a prgram like this.

[Cdr_Mansfield_Cumming]

This brings back memories of O’ Level Geography in Coventry, UK way back in 1983. I remember the teacher telling us that Plate Tectonics had moved on since this recording had been made, but it was a good introduction to the theory of the subject.

[loreman]

This is such a good movie, giving a perfect illustration of a scientific revolution, all in Terribly Poshe British style!
It also shows some things that seem to have been forgotten. I've had arguments about how Africa used to be at the South Pole with people online, but this takes it for granted.

[bw]

Hearing the projector music lag and stretch takes me way back to elementary school. Sitting in a semi-dark room with the sounds humming and clicking of the projector singing its own hypnotic lullaby.

[Leafshinobicaptainyamato]

The accents, the crackle in the audio from the old microphones, the retro synth music, the genuinely interesting earth history, everything about this video is so soothing to my soul

[FredPilcher]

What a wonderful historical document recording the development of our knowledge of late tectonics. I've never seen such a cogent description. I remember learning about it in school when it was still a recently-developed theory.