Continental Drift In The Early 1900's By Alfred Wegener

In 1596- Abraham Ortelius took note that the coastlines of the continents seemed to be too fitting together. He initiated a theory that stated that the continents were probably joined at one point in time and were torn apart between Europe and Africa. In the year of 1912, Alfred Wegener stated that the continents were once joined in a supercontinent called Pangea.

2. The theory of “Pangaea” exists suggesting that the continents were once nestled together into one mega-continent. The continents then spread out as drifting islands.

To support the theory of continental drift is through topography, surveying the floors of oceans, charts of rock magnetism, and statistics on rock ages (Trefil & Hazen, 2010). At one time scientist believed that the deep ocean floors were flat; accumulating the sediment that progressively wore away from the prehistoric landmasses (Trefil & Hazen, 2010). However, they discovered steep-walled valleys and elevated highlands. This was evidences that just as the continents are transformed and are active, so to is the seafloor (Trefil & Hazen, 2010). The Mid- Atlantic Ridge, positioned in the central part of the Atlantic Ocean, is recorded to be the longest mountain range on this planet. Volcanoes, lava flow, and earthquakes are a source of

James Hutton was the first scientist to address the Earth was millions of years old, as well as alive and is continuously being formed. Charles Lyell popularized uniformitarianism, and believed the Earth was being shaped by slow moving forces. Alfred Wegener introduced the foundation for the theory of continental drift. Wegener was one of the first to recognize and have an understanding of how the Earth works which required data and information from earth sciences. In the 1960s, the theory for the continental drift became known as the theory of plate tectonics or plate building.

Who proposed that all of the present continents were once joined together in a single supercontinent called Pangaea?

The theory of Pangaea suggests that the continents were once stuck together into one huge continent. Eventually they started drifting into separated landmasses, which gave birth to the modern continents.

Back about 21,00 years ago there was one big continent called Pangia. Then plates started moving, the ice age happened, Land bridge formed then disapered.

Geologists believe that between 280 million and 225 million years ago, the earth’s previously separate land areas became welded into a landmass called Pangaea. About 120 million years ago, they believe, this landmass began to separate. As this happened, the Atlantic Ocean formed, dividing the Americas from Africa and Eurasia. Over the course of the next several million years in both the Americas and in Afro-Eurasia, biological evolution followed individual paths, creating two primarily separate biological worlds. However, when Christopher Columbus and his crew made land in the Bahamas in October 1492, these two long-separated worlds were reunited. Columbus’ voyage, along with the many voyages that followed, disrupted much of the biological segregation brought about by continental drift.

Power is a complex multifaceted notion and people can experience or wield it in different ways. It can have negative connotations, especially when it is abused. People of course can also experience a sense of powerlessness for a variety of reasons. The poem Drifters by Bruce Dawe explores the helplessness of a family who are forced to move from place to place in search of work. This causes great distress and angst among the family. A sense of powerlessness of course can come in many forms and in the poem Mid-Term Break by Seamus Heaney we witness the extraordinary grief and anguish of a family who are mourning the death of a son and brother. The film The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, directed by Mark Herman, explores the sense of powerlessness

. as millions of years passed North America’s geography began to change, mountain ranges sprung up, rivers flowed across the vast land, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, the entire continent was changing

who had traveled to America during the last ice age using the broad landmass, Beringia which connected North America and Asia. To solve this mystery, anthropologists came up with different theories to try and explain the differences in physical features. It is the discovery of Naia, a 12,000 to 13,000 year-old skeleton that helps them to make the connection.

Toward the end of the 15th century Western explorers began searching for a contiguous sea route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by way of what is now the Canadian Artic Archipelago.

I was surprised while reading the section of Naomi Orekes’ essay that discussed the continental drift. Naomi stated that this theory was widely regarded as unproven when first proposed by Alfred Wegener in 1912. This was because his proof of the continental drift was “indirect.” However, in the 1950s, the theory became scientific fact using solely indirect evidence. It was not until the mid 1980s that the theory of continental shift was proven with direct evidence. What surprised me was when Orekes asked the readers to imagine if the theory of continental drift was related to an issue like climate change where some would argue that the data for the theory is indirect, therefore, the theory can not be proven. I was surprised by this because

In the middle of the eighteenth century, James Hutton proposed a theory, uniformitarianism; “the present is the key to the past”. It held that processes such as geologic forces- gradual and catastrophic-occurring in the present were the same that operated in the past. (Matt Rosenberg, 2004) This theory coincides with the theory of Continental Drift that was first proposed by Abraham Ortelius in December 1596, who suggested that North, South America, Africa and Eurasia were once connected but had been torn apart by earthquakes and floods. He also discovered that the coasts of the eastern part of South America and the

Alfred Wegener claimed that the continents were once attached and slowly drifted apart. The evidence that best supports Wegener’s claim is the fit of continents because North and South America’s edges look like they would fit almost perfectly with Europe. Another Example of strong evidence for Continental Drift is the mountain ranges because the Appalachian mountains look like they match with Greenland, Great Britain, and Scandinavia’s mountains. The final convincing piece of evidence for Continental Drift is how some places have the same rock types as other places that are far away. All the evidence leads us to know that the continents were once attached.