 In 1947, a team of scientists led by Maurice Ewing confirmed the existence of a rise in the central Atlantic Ocean, and found that the floor of the seabed beneath the sediments was chemically and physically different from continental crust.As oceanographers continued to bathymeter the ocean basins, a system of mid-oceanic ridges was detected.An important conclusion was that along this system, new ocean floor was being created, which led to the concept of the "Great Global Rift".