Third Pod From The Sun

Xavier Le Pichon came to Lamont Geological Observatory in 1959 and spent four months aboard the R/V Vema as a physical oceanography technician. The research cruise set out to test the existence of the mid-ocean ridge system: a long chain of seismically active mountains running along the ocean floor. Le Pichon would go on to be one of the scientists on the forefront of the plate tectonics revolution – a theory that changed the way we understand our planet. Instead of being a solid mass, scientists discovered Earth is made up a series of plates that move and slide past each other, causing volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and geological formations. It was the discovery of the mid-ocean ridge system and magnetic anomalies on the ocean floor that led scientists to develop the theory of seafloor spreading, the process by which oceanic crust is renewed and a key piece in the development of plate tectonic theory. In this new Centennial episode of Third Pod from the Sun, Le Pichon recounts the changes that took place i