Harry Hess hypothesized that the sea floor was spreading. He explained it through the phenomena of the youngest rocks that are found only at the mid-ocean ridges. These rocks then, get progressively older when moving away from the ridge.
One key piece of support that was not included in the initial support for Harry Hess's hypothesis of seafloor spreading was the mechanism of plate tectonics. This idea was developed and integrated into the theory of seafloor spreading by geologists like Robert Dietz and J. Tuzo Wilson at a later stage.
Granitic strips in the ocean floor ... Novanet
The theory of seafloor spreading was proposed by Harry Hess, a geologist and Navy officer, in the early 1960s. He proposed that new oceanic crust is formed at mid-ocean ridges and then spreads outward. This theory helped to explain the mechanism behind continental drift and plate tectonics.
Henry H. hess
The Seafloor Spreading Theory
seafloor spreading by Harry Hess
Harry Hess proposed the idea of seafloor spreading in the early 1960s, with his initial proposal being presented in 1960. This concept revolutionized our understanding of plate tectonics and the movement of the Earth's lithosphere.
Harry hess' hypothesis was hot/less dense material rises up the Earth's crust toward the mid-ocean ridges. When the seafloor breaks apart, magma is forced upward and through the cracks. It cools, and becomes a new seafloor. When it moves away from the mid-ocean ridge, it becomes denser and sinks. This helps form ridges.
It was proposed in the 1960s by Harry H. Hess.
The two main causes for Harry Hess' mid-ocean ridge hypothesis are seafloor spreading and plate tectonics. Seafloor spreading is the process where new oceanic crust is formed at mid-ocean ridges, pushing older crust away. Plate tectonics is the theory that Earth's lithosphere is divided into large plates that move and interact with each other, resulting in geological phenomena like seafloor spreading.
Harry hess' hypothesis was hot/less dense material rises up the Earth's crust toward the mid-ocean ridges. When the seafloor breaks apart, magma is forced upward and through the cracks. It cools, and becomes a new seafloor. When it moves away from the mid-ocean ridge, it becomes denser and sinks. This helps form ridges.
While two people proposed continental drift (Alfred Wegener and Alexander du Toit), it was just ONE scientist Harry Hess that proposed the mechanism of sea floor spreading to explain how the continents actually moved.