Plate tectonics and continental drift theory
Plate tectonics was born in 1968 in the form of a theory of the evolution of the Earth's surface as a whole, hence the name given to it often global tectonics. Based on geophysical approach, it has since been the subject of numerous checks that have made it a widely accepted theory, making obsolete all other theories orogenic, or at least reducing the explanation of partial processes (for example, the gravitational slip of cover tectonics).