The following passage is an essay about Marie Tharp and ocean mapping.
[1]
For decades, the consensus among geologists was that the ocean floor was a flat, featureless plain. In the early 1950s, Marie Tharp, a geologist and cartographer at Columbia University, set out to challenge this assumption. Working with raw topographic data collected by her colleague Bruce Heezen, Tharp spent years drafting detailed profiles of the Atlantic Ocean floor. Because women were barred from working on research vessels at the time, Tharp relied entirely on Heezen's sonar data, painstakingly hand-drawing the underwater landscapes.
[2]
As Tharp plotted the data points, she noticed a distinct V-shaped valley running down the center of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. She hypothesized that this feature was a rift valley, which would indicate that the ocean floor was spreading apart. This concept of continental drift was highly controversial and widely dismissed by the scientific community at the time. When Tharp first showed her findings to Heezen, he dismissed it as "girl talk." Undeterred, Tharp insisted on re-evaluating the data until Heezen was convinced, leading to their collaborative publication of the first physiographic map of the North Atlantic in 1957.
[3]
Tharp and Heezen's map revolutionized the field of earth science, providing visual evidence that supported the theory of plate tectonics. By showing that the ocean floor was dynamic and actively changing, their work transformed our understanding of how Earth's crust is formed and recycled. Today, Tharp is recognized not only for her monumental contributions to marine cartography but also as a pioneer who broke through the gender barriers of mid-century academia.
Suppose the writer's goal had been to write an essay that profiles the collaborative relationship between Marie Tharp and Bruce Heezen, emphasizing their shared academic backgrounds and mutual career development. Would this essay fulfill that goal?
- AYes, because the essay describes Tharp's collaboration with Heezen to map the Atlantic Ocean floor and mentions their joint publication in 1957.
- BNo, because the essay implies that Tharp and Heezen worked in separate departments at Columbia University and did not actually collaborate on the research.
- No, because the essay focuses primarily on Tharp's individual efforts to map the ocean floor and overcome professional obstacles, rather than profiling the academic backgrounds and mutual career development of both scientists.Answer
- DYes, because the essay details the academic training both scientists received at Columbia University and how it prepared them to defend the theory of continental drift.