The following are the evidence of continental drift theory:
- The Matching of Continents: The shorelines of Africa and South America facing each other have a remarkable and unmistakable match.
- Rocks of Same Age Across the Oceans: The belt of ancient rocks of 2,000 million years from Brazil coast matches with those from western Africa.
What evidence did Alfred Wegener use to support continental drift?
Wegener used geologic, fossil, and glacial evidence from opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean to support his theory of continental drift. For example, he said that there were geological similarities between the Appalachian Mountains in North America, and the Scottish Highlands.
What are the evidences of continental drift and seafloor spreading?
How do evidences of continental drift and sea floor spreading prove that the plates move? The seafloor’s permanent magnetic signatures showed that new ocean crust was created at the ridge crests and then spread outward in both directions.
What is the hypothesis of continental drift?
The hypothesis of continental drift was developed during the early parts of the twentieth century by Wegener. He believed that all eight continents were once a single supercontinent before separating. A number a geologists denounced his hypothesis after he published it in his book about the origin of oceans and continents in 1915.
How did Alfred Wegener contribute to continental drift?
There is also much climate evidence supporting continental drift, most notable of which is glacialactivity. Alfred Wegener investigated this field and found an anomaly in the Permo-Carboniferous ice sheet that was found through glacialtill deposits to have once covered all the southern major plates.
What are 4 pieces of evidence for continental drift?
They based their idea of continental drift on several lines of evidence: fit of the continents, paleoclimate indicators, truncated geologic features, and fossils.
What is the evidence of the continental drift theory?
One type of evidence that strongly supported the Theory of Continental Drift is the fossil record. Fossils of similar types of plants and animals in rocks of a similar age have been found on the shores of different continents, suggesting that the continents were once joined.
What are six evidences for continental drift?
He could not identify the driving force that was able to make the continents move.Fossils.Continents fit like Puzzle Pieces. Matching fossils preserved in rocks of the same age but found on different continents. Ex. ... Matching Rocks. Puzzle - like fit of continental shelves. Ex. ... Mountain Ranges.Glacier Striations.Coal Beds.
What was the first evidence of continental drift?
Wegener's first piece of evidence was that the coastlines of some continents fit together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. People noticed the similarities in the coastlines of South America and Africa on the first world maps, and some suggested the continents had been ripped apart [3].
What are the evidences in support of the continental drift theory class 11?
The Matching of Continents: The shorelines of Africa and South America facing each other have a remarkable and unmistakable match. Rocks of Same Age Across the Oceans: The belt of ancient rocks of 2,000 million years from Brazil coast matches with those from western Africa.
What are the evidences of plate movement found in your constructed Pangaea?
Evidence from fossils, glaciers, and complementary coastlines helps reveal how the plates once fit together. Fossils tell us when and where plants and animals once existed. Some life "rode" on diverging plates, became isolated, and evolved into new species.
What is continental drift theory class 5?
The theory of continental drift is most associated with the scientist Alfred Wegener. In the early 20th century, Wegener published a paper explaining his theory that the continental landmasses were “drifting” across the Earth, sometimes plowing through oceans and into each other.
Which of the following is not an evidence of continental drift theory?
The correct answer is : Paleomagnetism. Paleomagnetism was not used by Wegener to bolster his theory of continental drift.
What is the evidence that supports the theory of plate tectonics?
There is variety of evidence that supports the claims that plate tectonics accounts for (1) the distribution of fossils on different continents, (2) the occurrence of earthquakes, and (3) continental and ocean floor features including mountains, volcanoes, faults, and trenches.
What evidence supports the theory of Pangea?
The rock formations of eastern North America, Western Europe, and northwestern Africa were later found to have a common origin, and they overlapped in time with the presence of Gondwanaland. Together, these discoveries supported the existence of Pangea.
What evidence of climate change on continents supports the theory of continental drift?
The 'same animal fossils' found on different continents provide evidence climatic change on continent supporting the theory of 'continental drift'.
How did Alfred Wegener discover the continental drift?
Wegener noticed the similarity in the coastlines of eastern South America and western Africa and speculated that those lands had once formed a supercontinent, Pangaea, which had split and slowly moved many miles apart over geologic time.
Causes of Continental Drift
The causes of continental drift are perfectly explained by the plate tectonic theory. The earth’s outer shell is composed of plates that move a little bit every year. Heat coming from the interior of the earth triggers this movement to occur through convection currents inside the mantle.
Evidence of Continental Drift Theory
Fossils of creatures and plants discovered on different continents helped to him push his case that the continents were once locked together before breaking up and drifting away. Some of the fossil evidence discovered on the continents includes mesosaurus, lystosaurus, cygnognathus and glossopteris.
What is continental drift?
Continental drift, large-scale horizontal movements of continents relative to one another and to the ocean basins during one or more episodes of geologic time . This concept was an important precursor to the development of the theory of plate tectonics, which incorporates it. The term geology refers, according to Britannica, ...
How long ago did continental drift occur?
Indications of widespread glaciation from 380 to 250 million years ago are evident in Antarctica, southern South America, southern Africa, India, and Australia. If these continents were once united around the south polar region, this glaciation would become explicable as a unified sequence of events in time and space. Also, fitting the Americas with the continents across the Atlantic brings together similar kinds of rocks, fossils, and geologic structures. A belt of ancient rocks along the Brazilian coast, for example, matches one in West Africa. Moreover, the earliest marine deposits along the Atlantic coastlines of either South America or Africa are Jurassic in age (approximately 199.6 million to 145.5 million years old), which suggests that the ocean did not exist before that time.
What would happen if the continents were once united around the South Polar region?
If these continents were once united around the south polar region, this glaciation would become explicable as a unified sequence of events in time and space. Also, fitting the Americas with the continents across the Atlantic brings together similar kinds of rocks, fossils, and geologic structures.
What is the idea of a large-scale displacement of continents?
Noting the apparent fit of the bulge of eastern South America into the bight of Africa, the German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt theorized about 1800 that the lands bordering the Atlantic Ocean had once been joined. Some 50 years later, Antonio Snider-Pellegrini, a French scientist, argued that the presence of identical fossil plants in both North American and European coal deposits could be explained if the two continents had formerly been connected, a relationship otherwise difficult to account for. In 1908 Frank B. Taylor of the United States invoked the notion of continental collision to explain the formation of some of the world’s mountain ranges.
Why are polar wandering curves different?
The possibility that they might reflect true wander of the poles was discarded , because it implies separate wanderings of many magnetic poles over the same period. However, these different paths are reconciled by joining the continents in the manner proposed by Wegener. The curves for Europe and North America, for example, are reconciled by the assumption that the latter has drifted about 30° westward relative to Europe since the Triassic Period.
How long has Antarctica been around?
The earliest chapters in Antarctica’s rather fragmentary record extend far back, perhaps as much as 3 billion years, into early Precambrian time. Similarity in patterns of…
Where is the new crust generated?
Hess proposed that new oceanic crust is continually generated by igneous activity at the crests of oceanic ridges —submarine mountains that follow a sinuous course of about 65,000 km (40,000 miles) along the bottom of the major ocean basins.
What evidence is there for continental drift?
What Evidence Is There of the Continental Drift Theory? According to National Geographic, sea floor spreading and plate tectonics indicate that the continents do move or shift , which supports continental drift theory. Fossils of the Mesosaurus, an ancient freshwater reptile found in the southern parts of South America and Africa, ...
How does continental drift work?
Another indication of continental drift is tectonic activity and seafloor spreading. Scientists agree that continents rest on rocks called tectonic plates, which shift and move. Sea floor spreading further supports the continental drift theory. As molten rock rises from the Earth, it forms new crust between the plates. When this occurs, the sea floor grows wider, pushing the two continents apart. Sea floor spreading indicates that since the continents presently move apart, previous continental drift was possible and probable as well.
Who proposed continental drift?
Continental drift is a theory originally proposed by Alfred Wegener, who believed the continents were once one large continent known as Pangaea that later separated into several continents. One indication of this possibility is the appearance of the western African and eastern South American coasts, which look like two interlocking jigsaw puzzle ...
What happens when molten rock rises from the Earth?
As molten rock rises from the Earth, it forms new crust between the plates. When this occurs, the sea floor grows wider, pushing the two continents apart. Sea floor spreading indicates that since the continents presently move apart, previous continental drift was possible and probable as well. ADVERTISEMENT.
What are the 5 evidences of continental drift?
They based their idea of continental drift on several lines of evidence: fit of the continents, paleoclimate indicators, truncated geologic features, and fossils.
What are 3 fossils that support the idea of continental drift?
Four fossil examples include: the Mesosaurus, Cynognathus, Lystrosaurus, and Glossopteris. Modern day representation of the Mesosaurus. The Mesosaurus is known to have been a type of reptile, similar to the modern crocodile, which propelled itself through water with its long hind legs and limber tail.
How are fossils evidence for Pangea?
WEGNER’S EVIDENCE FOR CONTINENTAL DRIFT Evidence from fossilized organisms and mountain chains can be used to reconstruct the positions of today’s continents and landmasses to form the supercontinent Pangea. Glossopteris ferns had very heavy seeds that could not move by wind or drift on ocean currents.
What was the theory of continental drift?
Known as the “theory of continental drift,” it would spark and ignite a new way of viewing the Earth. But at the time Wegener introduced his theory, the scientific community firmly believed the continents and oceans to be permanent features on the Earth’s surface. As he expected, his proposal was not well received, even though it seemed to agree with the scientific information available at the time (Oreskes, N 1999). A loophole in Wegener’s theory was that it could not satisfactorily answer the most fundamental question raised by his critics: What kind of forces could be strong enough to move such large masses of solid rock over such great distances? Wegener suggested that the continents simply “plowed” through the ocean floor, but Harold Jeffreys, a noted English geophysicist, argued correctly that it was physically impossible for a large mass of solid rock to plow through the ocean floor without breaking up (Frankel H, 1985). Wegener’s hypothesis received support through the controversial years from South African geologist Alexander Du Toit as well as from Arthur Holmes. The idea of continental drift did not become widely accepted even as theory until the late 1950s. By the 1960s, geological research conducted by Robert S. Dietz, Bruce Heezen, and Harry Hess, along with a rekindling of the theory including a mechanism by J. Tuzo Wilson led to widespread acceptance of the theory among geologists. Recent evidence from ocean floor exploration and other studies has rekindled interest in Wegener’s theory, and lead to the development of the theory of plate tectonics (Le Grand HE, 1988).
When did the Earth start drifting apart?
Figure 2 shows the earth at approximately 150 million years ago, the Jurassic period. Note that the continents have started to seemingly drift apart still revealing the areas where the jigsaw puzzle used to snugly fit.
What did Wegener's drifting of continents after the break-up of Pangaea explain?
In Wegener’s mind, the drifting of continents after the break-up of Pangaea (Figure 1) explained not only the matching fossil occurrences but also the evidence of dramatic climate changes on some continents. Other mismatches of geology and climate included distinctive fossil ferns discovered in now-polar regions, and the occurrence of glacial deposits in present-day arid Africa.
How is new rock created?
The explanation is that new rock is created by volcanism at mid-ocean ridges and returned to the Earth’s mantle at ocean trenches. Molengraaf of the Delft Institute of Technology (Davis RA, 1977) proposed a recognizable form of seafloor spreading in order to account for the opening of the Atlantic Ocean as well as the East Africa Rift. Arthur Holmes, who was an early supporter of Wegener, suggested that the movement of continents was the result of convection currents driven by the heat of the interior of the Earth, rather than the continents floating on the mantle. In the words of Carl Sagan, “it is more like the continents are being carried on a conveyor belt than floating or drifting” (Sagan C, 1997). The ideas of Molengraaf and of Holmes led to the theory of plate tectonics, which replaced the theory of continental drift, and became the accepted theory in the 1960’s.
What does the continent look like?
Like a jigsaw puzzle: The continents look as if they were pieces of a giant jigsaw puzzle that could fit together to make one giant super-continent. For example; The bulge of Africa fits the shape of the coast of North America while Brazil fits along the coast of Africa beneath the bulge. Figure 1 shown the earth at approximately 225 million years ago, the Permian period. Take note that the continents fit like a jigsaw puzzle.
How do ice and rocks match?
These broad rock belts found at the end of these continents are matched when joined together. Wegener was aware that a continental ice sheet covered parts of South America, southern Africa, India, and southern Australia about 300 million years ago. Glacial striations on rocks show that glaciers moved from Africa toward the Atlantic Ocean and from the Atlantic Ocean onto South America. Such glaciation’s is most likely if the Atlantic Ocean was missing and the continents joined. If the continents were cold enough so that ice covered the southern continents, why is no evidence found for ice in the northern continents? Simple! The present northern continents were at the equator at 300 million years ago. The discovery of fossils of tropical plants, in the form of coal deposits in Antarctica (Stewart, JA. 1990), led to the conclusion that this frozen land previously must have been situated closer to the equator, in a more temperate climate where lush, swampy vegetation could grow.
What is Wegener's theory?
Wegener’s theory was based in part on what appeared to him to be the seemingly near-perfect remarkable fit of the South American and African continents, first noted by Abraham Ortelius three centuries earlier (Le Grand, HE. 1988). Wegener was also intrigued by the occurrences of unusual geologic structures and of plant and animal fossils found on the matching coastlines of South America and Africa, which at present is widely separated by the Atlantic Ocean. He reasoned that it was physically impossible for most of these organisms to have swum or have been transported across the vast oceans in the prehistoric eras. But to him, it was the presence of identical fossil species along the coastal parts of Africa and South America which to him was the most compelling evidence that the two continents were once joined.
What Are The 4 Pieces Of Evidence For Continental Drift?
The four pieces of evidence for the continental drift include continents fitting together like a puzzle scattering ancient fossils rocks mountain ranges and the old climatic zones’ locations.
What are the four pieces of evidence for plate tectonics?
There is variety of evidence that supports the claims that plate tectonics accounts for (1) the distribution of fossils on different continents (2) the occurrence of earthquakes and (3) continental and ocean floor features including mountains volcanoes faults and trenches.
What is the most obvious piece of evidence for continental drift?
In the early part of the 20th century scientists began to put together evidence that the continents could move around on Earth’s surface. The evidence for continental drift included the fit of the continents the distribution of ancient fossils rocks and mountain ranges and the locations of ancient climatic zones.
Is the continental drift?
Continental drift describes one of the earliest ways geologists thought continents moved over time. This map displays an early “supercontinent ” Gondwana which eventually moved to form the continents we know today. … The theory of continental drift is most associated with the scientist Alfred Wegener.
Which of the following evidences proves that Pangaea had existed?
The rock formations of eastern North America Western Europe and northwestern Africa were later found to have a common origin and they overlapped in time with the presence of Gondwanaland. Together these discoveries supported the existence of Pangea. … Modern geology has shown that Pangea did actually exist.
What are the 5 evidences of continental drift?
They based their idea of continental drift on several lines of evidence: fit of the continents paleoclimate indicators truncated geologic features and fossils.
What is the best piece of evidence for plate tectonics?
Answer: Modern continents hold clues to their distant past. Evidence from fossils glaciers and complementary coastlines helps reveal how the plates once fit together. Fossils tell us when and where plants and animals once existed.
