Timeline of the development of tectonophysics (after 1952)

The evolution of tectonophysics is closely linked to the history of the continental drift and plate tectonics hypotheses.

The continental drift/ Airy-Heiskanen isostasy hypothesis had many flaws and scarce data.

The idea of continents with a permanent location, the geosyncline theory, the Pratt-Hayford isostasy, the extrapolation of the age of the Earth by Lord Kelvin as a black body cooling down, the contracting Earth, the Earth as a solid and crystalline body, is one school of thought.

A lithosphere creeping over the asthenosphere is a logical consequence of an Earth with internal heat by radioactivity decay, the Airy-Heiskanen isostasy, thrust faults and Niskanen's mantle viscosity determinations.

Many concepts had to be changed: The shifting and evolution of knowledge and concepts, were from: Actually, there were two main "schools of thought" that pushed plate tectonics forward: Wegener's continental drift hypotheses is a logical consequence of: the theory of thrusting (alpine geology), the isostasy, the continents forms resulting from the supercontinent Gondwana break up, the past and present-day life forms on both sides of the Gondwana continent margins, and the Permo-Carboniferous moraine deposits in South Gondwana.

Map of the later North Atlantic region after the closing of the Iapetus Ocean and the Caledonian / Acadian orogenies ( Wilson 1966 ). Animals: Trilobites and graptolites . [ 1 ] [ 2 ]
Euramerica in the Devonian (416 to 359 Ma) with Baltica , Avalonia (Cabot Fault, Newfoundland and Great Glen Fault , Scotland ; cited in Wilson 1962 ) and Laurentia (Other parts: Iberian Massif and Armorican terrane ).
The "Bullard's Fit" of the Iapetus Ocean suture zone.
Approximate location of Mesoproterozoic (older than 1.3 Ga) cratons in South America and Africa. The São Luís and the Luis Alves cratonic fragments are shown (Brazil), but the Arequipa–Antofalla craton , the Saharan Metacraton and some minor African cratons are not. Other versions describe the Guiana Shield separated from the Amazonian shield by a depression.
Euler rotational pole.
Spreading at a mid-ocean ridge (the image has a flaw though, the seafloor gets thicker with age).
Approximate world distribution of living Cycadales
A distribution map of Gnetophyta colour-coded by genus:
Green – Welwitschia
Blue – Gnetum
Red – Ephedra
Purple – Gnetum and Ephedra range overlap
Profile of the East Swiss Alps (1880, from Northeast to Southwest) by Albert Heim , before he accepted the theory of thrusting. Key: #a Gneiss , schist and so on, #b Jura , #c Cretaceous and #d Eocene ; Walensee , Schaechental , Windgaelle and Finsteraarhorn .
Plate tectonics map, Digital Tectonic Activity Map [ 14 ]
Global plate tectonic movement [ 15 ]