Chichester ; New York : Wiley, c1982.

Not some eldrich Lovecrafted monster or high-tech Hollywood virtual creation, nor even de-hibernating earth itself has made the most impact when it rose from the ocean depths, says Lawrence, a freelance journalist with a background in biology and geology. It has been the theories of the geological history of the plant. He narrates the development of the theory of plate tectonics from its continental- drift larval stage to its mainstream triumph in the later 1960s. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR.

"This illustrated biography shares the story of female scientist, Marie Tharp, a pioneering woman scientist and the first person to ever successfully map the ocean floor"--

Annotation This book provides a synthesis of seabed geomorphology and benthic habitats based on the most recent, up-to-date information. Case studies from around the world are presented.

Her maps of the ocean floor have been called "one of the most remarkable achievements in modern cartography", yet no one knows her name. Soundings is the story of the enigmatic, unknown woman behind one of the greatest achievements of the 20th century. Before Marie Tharp, geologist and gifted draftsperson, the whole world, including most of the scientific community, thought the ocean floor was a vast expanse of nothingness. In 1948, at age 28, Marie walked into the newly formed geophysical lab at Columbia University and practically demanded a job. The scientists at the lab were all male; the women who worked there were relegated to secretary or assistant. Through sheer willpower and obstinacy, Marie was given the job of interpreting the soundings (records of sonar pings measuring the ocean's depths) brought back from the ocean-going expeditions of her male colleagues. The marriage of artistry and science behind her analysis of this dry data gave birth to a major work: the first comprehensive map of the ocean floor, which laid the groundwork for proving the then-controversial theory of continental drift. When combined, Marie's scientific knowledge, her eye for detail and her skill as an artist revealed not a vast empty plane, but an entire world of mountains and volcanoes, ridges and rifts, and a gateway to the past that allowed scientists the means to imagine how the continents and the oceans had been created over time. Just as Marie dedicated more than twenty years of her professional life to what became the Lamont Geological Observatory, engaged in the task of mapping every ocean on Earth, she dedicated her personal life to her great friendship with her co-worker, Bruce Heezen. Partners in work and in many ways, partners in life, Marie and Bruce were devoted to one another as they rose to greater and greater prominence in the scientific community, only to be envied and finally dismissed by their beloved institute. They went on together, refining and perfecting their work and contributing not only to humanity's vision of the ocean floor, but to the way subsequent generations would view the Earth as a whole. With an imagination as intuitive as Marie's, brilliant young writer Hali Felt brings to vivid life the story of the pioneering scientist whose work became the basis for the work of others scientists for generations to come.

Text To Accompany The Physiographic Diagram Of The North Atlantic. The Geological Society Of America Special Paper, No. 65.