"Plate tectonics came to be accepted by geoscientists after seafloor spreading was validated in the mid-to-late 1960s." (from the Plate Tectonics Wikipedia page)
With plate tectonics there was the major clue with how the outline of South America fits so neatly into Africa, and I assume that it was known that the rocks were similar on each side of the ocean.
Nevertheless, if the idea remained speculative till the sea-floor spreading was observed then I suppose it had to wait till we had robust enough subs to get down there to see it.
The Gregorian calendar is really the problem because it amplifies relative numbers. The agricultural evolution that started modern humans as a culture was 10,000 years ago. If we think of the current year as 12,025 ME and Copperncian revolution as 11,514 ME I think it puts in a proper scope as all relatively recent and contemporary event.
Gregorian calendar is like standing too close to a Monet or pointillist painting, you lose the scope of the big picture.
This title which was collects a series of books originally published in series and only collected in a single volume subsequently,
happened to have been written over the years during which plate tectonic theory was still being fiercely debated, indeed some of the characters contested it.
By that happy accident the book is thus simultaneously several things:
- a marvelous natural history of the United States revealed through characteristically engaging and evocative personal narratives
- a look at North American geology which over the course of the books collected is increasingly revealed
- a very effective communication of what geological _deep time_ really means, and
- a fascinating look into the inner workings of scientific inquiry and discourse: messy, passionate, exquisite, invaluable
Of particular local interest is the must-read Assembling California, the final book collected, which contains a duly famous second by second account of how the Loma Prieta earthquake went down.
A nice introduction:
https://californiacurated.com/2024/09/06/looking-back-john-m...
His book The Survival of the Bark Canoe led directly to me learning about crooked knives and then starting https://crookedknives.com
All of his books are phenomenal.