In his first paper Wegener writes:

“We now seem to have a possibility of explaining the differences in ocean depth. It seems undeniable that freshly exposed rock layers, as the Atlantic and western Indian, maintain higher temperature (perhaps 100° in the uppermost 100km on average) than old strongly cooled sea floor. Such a temperature difference would probably suffice to explain the relatively minor differences of level in the large ocean basins.

The depth variation in ocean basins appears to suggest the Mid-Atlantic Ridge should be regarded as the zone in which the floor of the Atlantic, as it keeps spreading, is continuously tearing open and making space for fresh, relatively fluid and hot rock rising from depth. We cannot consider the Mid-Atlantic Ridge as a relic of the former land connections.”


Identify the argument put forward by Alfred Wegener to explain the mid-Atlantic ridge shown in Figure 1.

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Evidence



Reasoning