May 24, 1906, birthday of Harry Hammond Hess 🌍
He hypothesized that the seafloor widens along rift zones and crust movements are driven by currents in earth's mantle, providing a mechanism for plate tectonic 🌎 https://mountainmystery.com/2015/05/24/1501/
The global seafloor geomorphic features map (pdf) http://www.bluehabitats.org/?page_id=9
May 22, 1960, the strongest earthquake ever measured and recorded - at magnitude 9.5 - hits Valdivia in Chile. As this was a relative sparsely inhabited desert area along the coast, it caused "only" 2.300 victims and destroyed 130.000 houses.
Seven hours later the resulting tsunami hits Hawaii and 24 hours later Japan claiming another 1.000 victims.
May 12 is International Women in Mathematics Day. Danish seismologist Inge Lehman developed a mathematical model based on her research on seismic waves, demonstrating that #Earth has a solid inner core 🌍
May 5, 1818, birthday of German philosopher Karl #Marx. His thoughts on #economy & #society may be well known, but Marx was actually also interested in #geology & copied some geological drawings for personal use - like the basalt cliffs of Staffa, Scotland ⚒️☭
