Darwin Rise
Location in the Pacific Ocean[1]
The Darwin Rise is a broad triangular region in the north central Pacific Ocean where there is a concentration of atolls.
During his voyage across the globe Charles Darwin realised that vertical crustal motion must be responsible for the formation of continents and ocean basins, as well as isolated atolls in the Pacific. He deduced that the central basin of the Pacific had subsided while surrounding areas had risen. In 1964 U.S. geologist Henry Menard subsequently named the uplifted area in the Pacific after the English naturalist.[2]
- ^ Stein & Stein c. 1999, Figure 1: Map of the south Pacific showing place names
- ^ Stein & Stein 1993, Introduction, p. 53; Darwin 1845: "When later dealing with other continents he became so fixed in his belief in vertical movements of the crust and the erosive power of the sea that he excluded other possible explanations ..." Menard 1964