Gravity Measurement made at Funchal Harbour, Madeira, 1932
Photographic print records of gravity determinations made onboard the Royal Netherlands Navy submarine O 13 whilst it was surfaced in the harbour at Funchal, Madeira, Portugal, by Prof. Felix Andries Vening Meinesz, August 2nd 1932.
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These gravity determinations were made by Prof Meinesz as part of an extensive series of experiments which he carried out using pedulum balances on submarines during his 'Gravity Expeditions at Sea' between 1923 and 1958. Meinesz performed most of these experiments himself until 1939, when his students took over.
These particular determinations were measured in on August 1932 in Portuguese waters whilst onboard the Royal Netherlands Navy submarine O 13.
These gravity determinations, like many taken by Prof Meinesz, illustrated irregular gravitational anomalies along ocean trenches, co-insiding with active volcanism and sharp terrain elevations.
What Prof Meinesz did not entirely realise at the time, was that he had been charting and mapping the fault lines of the Earth's vast tectonic plates, and his work provided some of the foundations for the development of the theory of plate tectonics in the late 1950s.
- Measurements:
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overall: 120 mm x 940 mm x 1 mm, .02kg
- Materials:
- paper (fibre product)
- Object Number:
- 1935-477 Pt1
- type:
- photographic print