With the ability to sketch, Marie Tharp makes it easy for viewers to visualize the terrain of the ocean bottom, which was once considered without any structure.
Marie Tharp with a map under the sea placed on the desk. Image: Earth Observatory Lamont-Doherty/The Estate of Marie Tharp
Over the past 100 years, many deep sea explorations have been going on and many samples have been taken from the seabed. However, the deepest places of the ocean still contain countless mysteries to people.
There are many good reasons to learn more about this area. The majority of tsunamis originated from the earthquake below or near the seabed. The seabed also provides the living environment for fish, corals, complex bacteria communities, crustaceans and many other creatures. The terrain of this place contributes to controlling the heat distribution of heat, helping to regulate the climate of the Earth.
In the 1950s, many scientists said that the seabed had no structure. However, the geologist and Oceanography Marie Tharp pointed out that the seabed there are rugged terrain areas and most of them are systematically arranged.
Tharp has established maps that change the way people imagine about two -thirds of the world. Since 1957, she and her colleagues have researched, Bruce Heezen, began to publish the first comprehensive maps to show the main characteristics of the ocean floor – mountain, valley and groove.
Tharp’s work plays an important role with the development of array theory – theory that the arrays, or large pieces of the Earth’s crust, interacting with each other creates seismic and volcanic activities. Previous researchers, especially Alfred Wegener, have noticed how the coastline of Africa and South America matched each other and thought that these continents were connected. Tharp helps to identify mountains and a valleys in the center of the Atlantic, where the two continents may have been split.
Marie Tharp in July 2001. Image: Bruce Gilbert/Earth Observatory Lamont-Doherty
Born at Ypsilanti, Michigan, in 1920, Tharp learned English and music at the university. But in 1943, she registered a master’s program of Michigan University to train women into petroleum geology during World War II. “It is necessary to have women to do empty jobs because men go to the battle,” Tharp said.
After working for an oil company in Oklahoma, Tharp searched for a geological job at the University of Columbia in 1948. Women were not allowed to board the train, but Tharp could draw sketches and were hired to support male students.
Tharp worked with Bruce Heezen, a graduate student to give her charts to the seabed to outline. Those are long paper rolls that show the depth of the seabed in a straight line, measured by a vessel equipped with Sonar (hydro -navigation technology).
Start with a large white paper, Tharp marks the latitude and long -term lines, then go to the ship’s place. Next, she read the depth of each position on the Sonar chart, marking it on the train’s way and creating her own filtering chart, showing the depth of the seabed compared to the distance the ship has gone.
One of her important initiatives is to create sketches that describe the shape of the sea floor. They help viewers easily visualize the terrain of the ocean bottom and make literary maps.
Tharp carefully sketched 6 charts from East to West to the North Atlantic, revealing the structure that has never been described before: a crack in the middle of the ocean, wide kilometers and hundreds of meters deep. Tharp thinks it is a stretchy valley – a long concave streak that exists on the mainland.
Hezen called this idea “a girl’s words”, asking Tharp to recalculate and outline. But when she finished, the valley was still there.
At that time, another research assistant was outlining the location of earthquake concerns on a map of the same size and ratio. Comparing the two maps, Heezen and Tharp realized the tremors located inside the valley separated. This discovery is of great significance with the development of array theory, proving that the movement is happening in the valley of separation and the continents may actually be away from each other.
This is revolutionary information. In 1957, Heezen, who had just received a doctorate, spoke in Princeton and described the relaxing and shocking valley, the head of the Department of Geology Harry Hess replied: “He has just shook the foundation of the geological industry.”
The Canary Islands in the Northern Atlantic Land Map of Marie Tharp (left) and modern strip map in the same area (right). Image: Vicki Ferrini/Earth Observatory Lamont-Doherty.
In 1959, the American Geological Association published the book The Floors of the Oceans: I. The North Atlantic của HeezenTharp and William Maurice Ewing – Director of Lamont Observatory, where they work. The book has ocean charts, ideas and literary maps of Tharp.
Some scientists think that this project is excellent, but most don’t believe it. The French marine explorer Jacques Cousteau was determined to prove that Tharp was wrong. When he walked on his train to study Calypso, he deliberately crossed the mountain between the Atlantic and lowered a camera into the water. Before the astonishment of Coustuu, the film shows that the valley of stretching really exists.
So what has created cracks? Hess came up with some ideas in the study in 1962, for example, hot Magma rising from deep within the Earth in the crack, bulging when cooled and pushed two adjacent areas apart.
In the following years, Tharp continued to work with Heezen to explore the ocean floor. They created an Indian Ocean map, published by the National Geographic in 1967, and a world seabed map in 1977, currently kept at the National Assembly library.
After Heezen died in 1977, Tharp continued his work until she died in 2006. In October 1978, Heezen (awarded) and Tharp was awarded the Hubbard Medal, the most noble title of the American National Geography Association, joining the ranks of famous explorers like Ernest Shackleton, Louis and Mary Leaky, Jane Goodall.