[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Middleton_Gerry.jpg” caption=”Gerard Middleton, professor emeritus in the School of Geography & Earth Sciences.”]This Saturday, Gerard Middleton, professor emeritus in the School of Geography & Earth Sciences, will explore the complexities surrounding the formation and location of the Earth's continents.

Middleton's talk, Solving the Earth's Jigsaw Puzzle, will explain Alfred Wegner's theory, Continental Drift.

Wegner proposed his theory in 1913, and ever since, geologists have debated the “mobility” of the Earth. Wegner suggested that originally the Earth consisted of a single continent, which he called “Pangea.” The continent existed before the Jurassic era, and later broke into the current continental formation.

Wegner was unable to prove his theory because no satisfactory mechanism for continental movement could be found, and no proof of such a movement was available before the 1950s.

With modern technological advances, it is now probable that plates have been moving around the Earth since the Precambrian era, a history unique among known planets.

“Plate tectonics was first fully formulated by a Canadian, J. Tuzo Wilson, and it had the advantage of making very precise predictions about such matters as the location of earthquakes, which were almost immediately verified, so it was very soon accepted by almost all the community of earth scientists,” says Middleton.

His talk aims to explain the theory, tackle the views of those involved in the scientific debate and the effect of this theory on our understanding of the Earth.

Middleton's past research interests include physical sedimentology, data analysis in geology, the history of geology, Canadian geology and particularly the contributions of Hamilton geologists.

More recently, Middleton began to study 19th century stone buildings in the Guelph and Niagara regions to find out what stone was used in their construction and why.

Middleton taught at McMaster from 1955 to 1996, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

The lecture takes place Saturday, Nov. 3 from 8 to 9 p.m. in the Health Sciences Centre, Ewart Angus Wing, Room 1A1.