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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 May 2009
Wegener bases his theory of the drifting continents on the assumption that there are two distinct levels to be taken into account, the surface of the masses of “sal” which form the continents and the surface of the “sima” in which they float. His justification of this fundamental assumption appears to be based on the frequency curve obtained by measuring heights positively and depths negatively from sea-level, and plotting the frequencies of such measurements as in Fig. 1. Because two maxima appear, Wegener draws the conclusion that therefore two layers must be considered as having been acted upon to produce the elevations and depressions of the earth's surface, and he implies that there would be but one maximum (Fig. 1, dotted curve) if only one layer were involved.
page note page 108 note 1 Wegener, A.: Die Entstehung der Kontinente und Ozeane, 2nd ed., 1920.Google Scholar
page note page 108 note 2 Wegener expresses the frequencies as percentages of the total area of the earth's surface, and he adopts a vertical interval of 100 metres. Thus the frequency assigned to +1000 is the percentage of the earth's surface occupied by land between the 950 m. and 1,050 m. contours.
page note page 108 note 3 It is not suggested that the profile of any given section of the earth (taken, for example, around a certain line of latitude) would be capable of being represented accurately by a Fourier Series; but it might probably resemble, in its main outline, a portion of the graph of some such series.