Contributions to the Field of Study

      John Tuzo Wilson was a geophysicist who spent the majority of his career making advancements in Earth sciences and geophysics. He was critical in providing solid evidence to support the plate tectonics theory.

Contributions to the Theory of Plate Tectonics 

     John Tuzo Wilson's contributions to geophysics and other science-related fields have helped transform our understanding of how the Earth works and have also led to many scientific advances. John Tuzo Wilson is respected for his major contributions to the theory of plate tectonics which includes the establishment of hotspots and the identification of transform boundaries. 

     Some scientists denied the plate tectonic theory because areas containing active volcanoes were located in the middle of plates instead of near a subduction zone. In 1963, John Tuzo Wilson introduced the concept of hotspots to explain why areas containing active volcanoes were located in the middle of plates. He used the Hawaiian Island chain as an example to support his new theory. He suggested that the Hawaiian Island chains were formed as a result of a plate moving over a fixed 'hotspot' in the mantle while the islands containing active volcanoes remained stationary over the 'hotspot'.

      John Tuzo Wilson's other notable contribution to the plate tectonic theory was the identification of a third kind of plate boundary known as transform faults. Convergent and divergent boundaries had already been identified, but these two boundaries did not include the different kinds of plate boundaries that were found on the ocean floor. Transform faults allow convergent and divergent plates to slide past each other, and they are different from other plate boundaries because they slide horizontally and connect divergent and convergent boundaries. This discovery was so significant because the concept of transform faults helped convince those who were skeptical of the plate tectonics theory. This is why transform faults are often referred to as the missing piece of the puzzle of the plate tectonics theory. His discoveries helped solidify the plate tectonics theory and also planted the seeds for many other geologists to make their own discoveries. 

 Other scientific contributions

John Tuzo Wilson revolutionized the field of geophysics in numerous ways with his many significant contributions. 
-John Tuzo Wilson organized the world's oceans according to the stages of development in a cycle that is referred to as the Wilson Cycle.

-In order to explain the seafloor spreading, he suggested that sea floors open, spread, and then close in recurrent cycles. He suggested that this was the case for the Atlantic Ocean. He proposed that the Atlantic Ocean floor had opened, closed, and reopened again, which caused the Appalachian Mountains to form. 

-John Tuzo Wilson helped establish the use of air photos for geological mapping, which helped him create the first glacial map of Canada.