Abyssal plains were not recognized as distinct physiographic features of the sea floor until the late 1940s and, until very recently, none had been studied on a systematic basis. They are poorly preserved in the sedimentary record, because they tend to be consumed by the subduction process.
The first man to discover that the earth moves around the sun was an Italian scientist named Galileo Galilei.
Earthâs Movements. 1  Earth travels around the Sun at about 18.4 miles per second while rotating on its axis at about 1,070 miles per hours. Pictured above is Earth during summer for the Northern Hemisphere where the North Pole (center of the Arctic Ice Cap) receives sunlight 24 hours a day.