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In October 1947, oceanographer Maurice Ewing led a scientific expedition aboard the research vessel Atlantis to investigate the geological structure of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Utilizing seismic refraction techniques—a methodology measuring the propagation speed of sound waves through subsurface rock layers—Ewing's team recorded acoustic data across vast stretches of the Atlantic Ocean floor. The resulting data revealed two unexpected physical findings. First, the sediment layer resting atop the oceanic basement rock was surprisingly sparse, measuring under one thousand feet deep in most survey sites rather than the multi-mile depth predicted by contemporary oceanographic models. Second, the underlying basaltic oceanic crust was extraordinarily thin, averaging approximately five kilometers in thickness compared to the thirty-to-forty-kilometer thickness characteristic of continental landmasses. Furthermore, rock cores retrieved directly from the central rift valley yielded fresh basalt completely devoid of accumulated sediment encrustations, providing direct physical evidence that the seafloor along the central ridge crest was geologically young.
Based on the passage, evaluate the following statement:
Seismic refraction measurements recorded during the 1947 Atlantis expedition demonstrated that the basaltic oceanic crust was thicker than the Earth's continental crust.
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