Who was Arthur Holmes?
Q: Who was Arthur Holmes?
A: Arthur Holmes was an English geologist.
Q: What were the two important contributions made by Arthur Holmes?
A: The two important contributions made by Arthur Holmes were the use of radioactive isotopes for dating minerals, and the suggestion that convection currents in the mantle play an important role in continental drift.
Q: How did Arthur Holmes' contribution help Alfred Wegener's theory of continental drift?
A: By showing that thermal convection currents were strong enough to move large land masses, Arthur Holmes' contribution supported the theory of continental drift or theory of Plate tectonics put forth by Alfred Wegener.
Q: Who also supported Arthur Holmes' view on the movement of large land masses?
A: Harry H. Hess also supported Arthur Holmes' view on the movement of large land masses.
Q: What is geochronology and who was a pioneer of it?
A: Geochronology is the science of determining the age of rocks, fossils, and sediments. Arthur Holmes was a pioneer of geochronology.
Q: What was the result of the first accurate uranium-lead radiometric dating performed by Arthur Holmes?
A: The first accurate uranium-lead radiometric dating performed by Arthur Holmes gave a date of 370 mya to a Devonian rock from Norway.
Q: What was Arthur Holmes' work related to the age of the Earth?
A: Arthur Holmes worked on the problem of the age of the Earth all his life and reached an approximately correct estimate by the 1940s of 4,500±100 mya.
