“I was so busy making maps, I let them argue” – Marie Tharp, Oceanographer
Welcome back to #MapMonday! Every other week, we are going to be posting about something or someone that interests or inspires us, instead of the main blog “plotline”. Next week we will return to our examination of Canadian cities. This week, however, is all about Marie Tharp!
July 30th, 2020 marked what would have been Marie Tharp’s 100th birthday. Marie was an Oceanographer, and an excellent one at that; her drafts of the mid-oceanic ridges and her hand-drawn map of the ocean seafloor still stand as a surprisingly accurate representation of how the ocean floor looks today. Her ability to capture the three-dimensional landscape of the bottom of the ocean is incredible given the technological limitations of her time. Today, her map, collaborated on with Bruce Heezen and published in 1977, is preserved in the Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division
Mid-ocean ridges (pictured in Marie’s map as the dark lines in the ocean), to simplify, are deep-sea volcanoes that build and move continents by spewing magma. The magma pushes up, building up into these massive underwater mountain ranges and slowly, very slowly, pushes the
continents away from each other. The high iron content of the magma makes basalt and gabbro when it hits the water and builds the dense ocean crust of these tectonic plates.This whole process is what drives our continents to move around, like we see in this video:
Marie brought our awareness to mid-ocean ridges and changed the way the world understood plate tectonics. Initially, her ideas of tectonic movement were dismissed as “girl talk” by Bruce Heezen, her colleague, as the scientific world at that time was not accepting of the idea that tectonic plates moved. She convinced them, and her work was published by Heezen (without credit to her) in 1957. A wave of new research that studies the movement and the age of tectonic plates was inspired and continues today.
I am inspired by Marie’s perseverance and commitment to doing work that would ultimately revolutionize our understanding of global geological processes. Her ability to overcome systems that dismissed her value as a novel researcher because of her gender demonstrates her tenacity as a woman and makes me feel empowered to persevere myself. I am so grateful for people like her who have paved the road for women scientists because she ignored the voices that disregarded her intelligence.
Marie was determined to do work that she loved , and was encouraged by her father, William Edgar Tharp: “When you find your life’s work, make sure it is something you can do, and most important, something you like to do.” As a young person in her early career, reading the words of Marie’s father resonated with me. Marie herself said: “I changed my major every semester. I was looking for something I was good at, something I could get paid for, and something I really liked,” which is great advice for any person starting out.
Finding that sweet spot that inspires enjoyment and productivity in our careers is difficult and may take an entire lifetime. On a personal level for myself, right now, learning about Marie’s career journey rings true, especially given my similar passions for geology and geography. In my career, I need to do work that I feel is important and brings me joy otherwise, naturally, I have trouble focusing. Working on maps and sharing knowledge with people is part of that, so thank you for continuing to join me in this weird and fun blogging adventure.
Follow #MarieTharp100 on Twitter for more stories, pictures, and celebrations of her life.
Resources
Celebrating Marie Tharp (https://marietharp.ldeo.columbia.edu/)
Making a Mark on the Ocean Floor (https://ocean.si.edu/ecosystems/deep-sea/making-mark-ocean-floor)
Marie Tharp’s Adventures in Mapping the Seafloor, In Her Own Words (https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2020/07/24/marie-tharp-connecting-dots/)
8 Surprising Facts About Marie Tharp, Mapmaker Extraordinaire (https://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/news-events/8-surprising-facts-about-marie-tharp-mapmaker-extraordinaire?fbclid=IwAR0iS7v3SM0pWYcFxuLqYEdoCjGw4Sf_I5p_jAxfQMWQbRYZGF0kuI730Tk)
Seeing the seafloor in high definition (https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/seeing-seafloor-high-definition-modern-mapping-offers-increasing-clarity-earths-vast)
Mid-Ocean Ridge (https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/mid-ocean_ridge.htm#:~:text=A%20mid%2Docean%20ridge%20or,meet%20at%20a%20divergent%20boundary)
Earth Tectonic Plate Simulation (https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/earth-tectonic-plates-video_n_6956254?ri18n=true)
Mid-Ocean Ridges: Types of Ridges (https://divediscover.whoi.edu/mid-ocean-ridges/types-of-ridges/)