Following World War II, modern instruments replaced
rock hammers as the tools of choice for many researchers.
Armed with more advanced tools, geologists and a
new breed of researchers, including geophysicists and
geochemists, made several surprising discoveries that
began to rekindle interest in the drift hypothesis. By 1968
these developments had led to the unfolding of a far more
encompassing explanation known as the theory of plate
tectonics.