Plate Tectonics Revolution

The Plate Tectonics Revolution was the scientific and cultural change which developed from the acceptance of the plate tectonics theory. The event was a paradigm shift and scientific revolution.

By 1967 most scientists in geology accepted the theory of plate tectonics. The root of this was Alfred Wegener's 1912 publication of his theory of continental drift, which was a controversy in the field through the 1950s. At that point scientists introduced new evidence in a new way, replacing the idea of continental drift with instead a theory of plate tectonics. The acceptance of this theory brought scientific and cultural change which commentators called the "Plate Tectonics Revolution".