2026-07-30 12:04 UTC
Women were still not allowed to participate in research cruises. Before long, Heezen came to LDEO & required so much drafting work that Tharp worked exclusively with him.
She spent months plotting profiles of N Atlantic. The ship tracks were sparse but when Tharp compared several ~ parallel transects she noticed a V-shaped notch in the centre of all profiles. She suspected they coincided because they indicated a rift valley along the ridge crest.🧵2/5
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@minouette@spore.social 2026-07-30 12:05
The early ideas about plate tectonics were still quite controversial & unpopular. Heezen dismissed this as “girl talk” - though really a vital piece of the plate tectonics puzzle. Tharp believed rift was real though she hadn’t convinced Heezen. In 1952, they began working on physiographic maps, which really gave a sense of the geology, & were not US Navy classified, so they could publish. A 2nd project involved plotting earthquakes, & Heezen insisted they work at same scale. 🧵3/5