EARTH 520
Plate Tectonics and People

Frederick Vine

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<h3><span style="font-size: 10px;">by Ethan Hansen</span></h3>
<h3>Biographical Information</h3>
<p>Fred Vine was a Brittish marine geologist and geophysicist born in London in 1939. He attended Cambridge University and went on to teach at Princeton University and then the University of East Anglia in Brittain. Born to working class parents, Vine's initial interest in geology came partly from playing around bomb sites as a young child in London during World War II. </p>
<p><img alt="Fred Vine illustrating the Vine-Matthews hypothesis, 1968" src="http://www.bl.uk/voices-of-science/britishlibrary/~/media/bl/websites/vo... style="height: 143px; width: 250px;"></p>
<p><span style="font-size:9px;"><em>Fred Vine in 1968 at age 39. Image courtesy of http://www.bl.uk/voices-of-science/interviewees/fred-vine)</em></span></p>
<h3>Specific contributions to the theory of plate tectonics and/or our modern view of the solid Earth</h3>
<p>Fred Vine's major contribution to the theory of plate techtonics was the Vine-Matthews Hypothesis originally published in 1963. The hypothesis, developed along with Vine's Ph.D adviser at Cambridge, Drummond Matthews, proposed that if Harry Hess' sea-floor spreading hypothesis is correct, there should be a remnant magnetic field pattern in the sea floor as new crust spreads out from the mid-ocean ridges. <span style="font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.3;"> </span></p>
<p><img alt="A diagram showing remnant magnetic fields as the sea floor spreads. " src="http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/graphics/Fig7.gif" style="line-height: 12.48px; width: 255px; height: 187px;"><img alt="" src="http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/~/media/shared/images/KS4/magnetic%20stripes.j... style="width: 261px; height: 187px;"></p>
<p><em><span style="font-size:9px;"><span style="line-height: 12.48px;">Left image courtesy of http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/graphics/Fig7.gif</span></span...
<p><em><span style="font-size:9px;"><span style="line-height: 12.48px;">Right image courtesy of the Naked Science Society. Found at </span>http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/Plate-Tectonics/Chap1-Pioneers-of-Plate-Tecton...
<p>Harry Hess had proposed that the sea floor spreads out like a conveyor belt from the mid-ocean ridges. Vine and Matthews expanded on Hess' theory, proposing that the sea floor should act like a tape recorder, showing a magnetic record of the spread of Earth's crust. As shown in the figures above, there are areas of normal and reversed magnetic polarity in the sea floor. These areas should match with Earth's magnetic polarity reversals that happen over millions of years. These magnetic records would be "frozen" into the sea floor. <span style="font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.3;">It was found that these areas of normal and reversed magnetic polarity do exist in the sea floor, and that the strips on either side of the mid-ocean ridge were formed at the same time.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.3;">The hypotheis was not immediately accepted due to some skepticism about underlying assumptions. Some were not convinced that rock could act as a "recorder" for magnetic polarity or even that the Earth's magnetic field reversed over time. </span></p>
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<p> <span style="line-height: 12.48px;">A video of Vine explaining paleomagnetic reversals: </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRx66ZpEhOg" name="A video of Vine explaining paleomagnetic reversals." style="line-height: 12.48px; background-color: rgb(238, 238, 238);" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRx66ZpEhOg</a></p>
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<p><img alt="" src="http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/~/media/shared/images/KS4/Chapter%201/vine%20m... style="width: 192px; height: 252px;"></p>
<p><em><span style="font-size:9px;">Fred Vine (right) and Drummond Matthews (image courtesy of http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/Plate-Tectonics/Chap1-Pioneers-of-Plate-Tecton...)</span></em></p>
<h3>Other important scientific contributions</h3>
<p>After his work at Cambridge with Drummond Matthews, vine spent the majority of his acadmic career at East Anglia University, studying various geological phenomena. He primarily worked on other research involving geomagnetism and electrical conductivity of various rocks. He published several books and papers, but the Vine-Matthews Hypothesis was by far his most well known scientific contribution. </p>
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<h3>Other cool stuff you should know</h3>
<p>The Vine-Matthews hypothesis is also known as the Vine-Matthews-Morley hypothesis. Lawrence Morley independently developed a similar hypothesis, but his paper was rejected by two journals. Vine and Matthews' paper was the first to be published. </p>
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<h3>Bibliography</h3>
<p><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"Vine, Frederick John." </span><u style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">A Dictionary of Scientists</u><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. : Oxford University Press, 1999.</span><u style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Oxford Reference</u><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. 2003. Date Accessed 10 Sep. 2015 <http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780192800862.001.0001...
<p><span style="font-family: 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-indent: -49px; background-color: rgb(203, 233, 249);">"GLOSSARY." </span><i style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-indent: -49px; background-color: rgb(203, 233, 249);">The Geological Society</i><span style="font-family: 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-indent: -49px; background-color: rgb(203, 233, 249);">. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Sept. 2015.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-indent: -49px; background-color: rgb(203, 233, 249);">"Vine-Matthews-Morley Hypothesis." </span><i style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-indent: -49px; background-color: rgb(203, 233, 249);">Wikipedia</i><span style="font-family: 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-indent: -49px; background-color: rgb(203, 233, 249);">. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 12 Sept. 2015.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-indent: -28px; background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242);">"Frederick Vine." </span><i style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-indent: -28px; background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242);">Wikipedia</i><span style="font-family: 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-indent: -28px; background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242);">. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 12 Sept. 2015.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-indent: -49px; background-color: rgb(203, 233, 249);">Oreskes, Naomi. "Earth Science: How Plate Tectonics Clicked."</span><i style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-indent: -49px; background-color: rgb(203, 233, 249);">Nature.com</i><span style="font-family: 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-indent: -49px; background-color: rgb(203, 233, 249);">. Nature Publishing Group, n.d. Web. 12 Sept. 2015.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-indent: -28px; background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242);">"An Oral History of British Science: Fred Vine." Interview by Dr. Paul Merchant. </span><i style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-indent: -28px; background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242);">Sounds.bl.uk</i><span style="font-family: 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-indent: -28px; background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242);">. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://sounds.bl.uk/related-content/TRANSCRIPTS/021T-C1379X0025XX-0000A0...
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