Plate tectonics is the
scientific theory that the rigid outer layers of the Earth (
crust and part of the
upper mantle), the
lithosphere, is broken up into around 13 pieces or "plates" that move independently over the weaker
asthenosphere. Wilson maintained that the
Hawaiian Islands were formed as a tectonic plate (extending across much of the
Pacific Ocean) shifted to the northwest over a fixed
hotspot, spawning a long series of
volcanoes. He also conceived of the
transform fault, a major plate boundary where two plates move past each other horizontally (e.g., the
San Andreas Fault).
Wilson was born in
Ottawa on October 24, 1908, the son of
John Armistead WilsonCBE, and his wife, Henrietta Tuzo.[4] Wilson's father was of
Scottish descent and his mother was a third-generation Canadian of French descent.
He became one of the first people in Canada to receive a degree in
geophysics, graduating from
Trinity College at the
University of Toronto in 1930.[5] He obtained a second (BA) degree from
St. John's College, Cambridge in 1932 and then a doctorate (ScD). He then pursued further graduate studies as
Princeton University, where he received a
Ph.D. in geology in 1936 after completing a doctoral dissertation titled "The Geology of the Mill creek - Stillwater Area,
Montana."[6]
In 1946 he was appointed the first Professor of Geophysics at the
University of Toronto.
He made significant contributions to the theory of Plate tectonics, adding a concept of hot spots. Plate tectonics is the
scientific theory that the rigid outer layers of the Earth (
crust and part of the
upper mantle), the
lithosphere, is broken up into around 13 pieces or "plates" that move independently over the weaker
asthenosphere. Wilson maintained that the
Hawaiian Islands were created as a tectonic plate (extending across much of the
Pacific Ocean) shifted to the northwest over a fixed
hotspot, spawning a long series of
volcanoes. He also conceived of the
transform fault, a major plate boundary where two plates move past each other horizontally (e.g., the
San Andreas Fault).
The
Wilson cycle of seabed expansion and contraction (associated with the
Supercontinent cycle) bears his name, in recognition of his iconic observation that the present-day
Atlantic Ocean appears along a former suture zone[8] and his development in a classic 1968 paper[9] of what was later named the "Wilson cycle" in 1975 by
Kevin C. A. Burke, a colleague and friend of Wilson.[10]
He was elected president-elect (1978–1980) and president (1980–1982) of the American Geophysical Union.
He also served as the director general of the
Ontario Science Centre from 1974 to 1985.
Wilson and his plate tectonic theory are commemorated on the grounds of the Centre by a giant "immovable" spike that records the amount of plate movement since Wilson's birth.
Wilson was an avid traveller and took a large number of photographs during his travels to many destinations, including European countries, parts of the then USSR, China, the southern Pacific, Africa, and to both polar regions. Although many of his photos are geological—details of rocks and their structures or panoramas of large formations—the bulk of his photos are of the places, activities and people that he saw on his travels: landscapes, city views, monuments, sites, instruments, vehicles, flora and fauna, occupations and people.
He retired in 1986 and died in
Toronto on April 15, 1993.
Selected publications
One Chinese Moon (1959)
Wilson, Tuzo (July 14, 1962). "Cabot Fault, An Appalachian Equivalent of the San Andreas and Great Glen Faults and some Implications for Continental Displacement". Nature. 195 (4837): 135–138.
Bibcode:
1962Natur.195..135W.
doi:
10.1038/195135a0.
S2CID4289725.
Wilson, J. Tuzo (1966). "Are the structures of the Caribbean and Scotia arc regions analogous to ice rafting?". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 1 (5): 335–338.
Bibcode:
1966E&PSL...1..335T.
doi:
10.1016/0012-821X(66)90019-7.
Wilson, J. Tuzo (December 1968). "A Revolution in Earth Science". Geotimes. 13 (10). Washington DC: 10–16.
Wilson, J. Tuzo (1971). "Du Toit, Alexander Logie". Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Vol. 4. pp. 261–263.
^Cousens, Brian L.; Chase, R. L.; Schilling, J.-G. (1985). "Geochemistry and origin of volcanic rocks from Tuzo Wilson and Bowie seamounts, northeast Pacific Ocean". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 22 (11): 1609–17.
Bibcode:
1985CaJES..22.1609C.
doi:
10.1139/e85-170.
^Cousens, Brian L.; Chase, R. L.; Schilling, J.-G. (1985). "Geochemistry and origin of volcanic rocks from Tuzo Wilson and Bowie seamounts, northeast Pacific Ocean". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 22 (11): 1609–17.
Bibcode:
1985CaJES..22.1609C.
doi:
10.1139/e85-170.