Introduction The earth has been through a lot of changes throughout time. It used to be thought that the continents were locked in their positions and couldn’t move, but in 1915 Alfred Wagner came up with a theory about continental drift (Tarbuck and Lutgens, 2015). While unsure of the process that happened at the time, Wagner also came up with the idea that all the continents in existence today were once all connected as one giant continent known as Pangea. This idea is supported by the findings of similar rocks or fossils in multiple locations separated by large water bodies. Thanks to more tools and funding, the oceanic ridge system was found and by 1968, the theory of plate tectonics was introduced (Tarbuck and Lutgens, 2015). This theory …show more content…
Tectonic plates never stop moving and continue to change the surface of the earth in present day. The movement of tectonic plates is the main reason for the formation of the Panama Isthmus with an arc of islands that eventually connected to create a link between North and South America. With the Panama Isthmus came many changes to the world. Animals were introduced to new areas. Fossil records help scientists understand what animals made their way across the land bridge into both Americas. The closing of the link between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans altered the environment and climate of the world. The world today would be very different if the isthmus had not formed; with tectonic plates in constant motion, the world will continue to change and be completely different in the future than it is today. All the articles contained a lot of information and were interesting. But, the most enjoyable one for me to read was “How the Isthmus of Panama Changed the World” by Tony Coates. While I enjoyed the information that was provided by the author, I believe that the format of the article made it the most interesting for me. The question and answer type of article chunked related information better and allowed me to stay focused on the information better than a typical paragraph style. The article by Coates was my favorite, but I found all of the articles full of information and fairly interesting to
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.
According to the theory of “Pangaea,” the world was once a single mega-continent that contained all the dry land about 225 million years ago. North America was shaped by the majestic Canadian Shield about 10 million years ago.
About 225 million years, all of the world’s land was contained in one supercontinent, named Pangea. This supercontinent would eventually separate itself into the continents that are known today, due to continuous movement of the earth’s tectonic plates, which led to major shifting and folding of the earth’s crust. This shifting formed many of the mountain ranges that exist today, such as the Appalachians and the Rocky Mountains. However, the time of Pangea’s separation into multiple continents and the time of the formation of the mountain ranges aren’t synonymous; for instance, the Appalachians were most likely formed before Pangea’s separation. About some 2 million years ago, a Great Ice Age befell the earth, which caused a
Earth's plates and continents do not always just stay in one place. They shift, collide, and move apart, causing destruction in many different parts of the world. The movement of plates causes volcanic eruptions, changes in the oceans, and perhaps the most dangerous of all, earthquakes. Earthquakes may have the most devastating effects on people and cities.
The Panama Canal is an important part of Panama and United States history. The Panama Canal was constructed in order to make the journey from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean shorter. This is extremely important because it shortens the journey for cargo ships making them financially more efficient. The Panama Canal was once owned by the United States but is now owned by Panama. The Panama Canal is a perfect example of countries working together for a common goal.
Short went into depth when talking about the nine main plates of the Earth. The movement of these plates have caused land to separate and changed the location of continents. A great example of the power that these plates hold is when the Indo-Australian plate and the Eurasian plate came together.
Plate tectonics move land masses around, and occasionally, interactions between different plates causes new land to form, and can even join two separate continents together, changing ocean currents and causing climate change. This is evident in the collision of the North and South American continents, which created the Isthmus of Panama, and separated the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean. Approximately 15 million years ago, the North and South American continent was cut off from each other by a seaway about 200 km wide. Over time, the South American plate collided with the Caribbean and Cocos plate, and gradually closed the exchange of the Caribbean and Pacific waters 3-4 million years ago. This resulted in several consequences.
Before reading this article, I initially was actually was pretty clueless as to what the purpose behind the Panama Canal was. So to learn that it all was created just to prevent ships from sailing the long distance around South America made a whole lot of sense as to why they would have created the canal in the first place. I would think that this would of had to have made a positive impact on importing and exporting goods between continents. Also, not to mention the canal made it much safer for the men and women who work on these ships. Furthermore, with the amount of ships that travel through the canal, “14,000 ships between the Atlantic and the Pacific each year,” I am surprised to hear that it was a once abandoned constructions project
How do we know that continents can move across vast distances over a long enough period of time? It is very hard to imagine what amounts to 150 million kilometers squared of land that we have on the earth moving such an incredible distance. This was the main idea opposing the Continental Shift theory: there were no known forces strong enough to move entire continents against the massive force of friction, and even today many geologists are unsure whether the weaker force of the Earth’s convection causes the shift, or the stronger gravity. Alfred Wegener, a German scientist, proposed that
The theory of continental drift was first put forward by Alfred Wegener, a meteorologist and geologist in Germany. The theory stated that the land on Earth’s crust slowly drifted apart. Alfred Wegener formulated the hypothesis that the modern day continents were once combined about 200 million years ago. He called this supercontinent Pangaea meaning “ all-land”. Then, he claimed that Pangaea began to break up into the continents Gondwanaland and Laurasia due to the parts of Pangaea slowly drifting apart. Millions of years later, the modern day 7 continents were formed. There are 4 main pieces of evidence to support Pangaea’s existence. One piece of evidence would be that the modern continents have a puzzle-like fit. If the continents can fit together, it
According to Plate tectonics, millions of years ago, large-scale motion of Earth's lithosphere occurred. Continental drift separated the New Worlds from the Old World by gradually carrying the plate through the ocean. The Old World is the continents known as Eurasia and Africa today. People who lived in the Old World know nothing about other plates outside this Old World. Therefore, when Europeans who were sailing through the Atlantic found a new continent, based on information I found from the website, StudyMode, an Italian explorer, Amerigo Vespucci, named the new continent the New World which is now known as America. The separation lasted so long that the New World and Old World evolved and developed in different path. For example, the diversity of crop reflected the
Have you ever wondered why our continents are in the positions that they are in today? Plate Tectonics can be used to explain the movement of the plates and the landforms they make. These landforms include mountains, volcanoes, rift valleys, and much more that are made by convergent and divergent boundaries. The plates are moved by the convection currents below the surface which is caused by a heat source, the mantle. Another landform that is made is a mid-ocean ridge, at which sea floor spreading is taken place, and allows magma to rise and harden on the ocean floor.
Firstly, plate tectonics was not formed exclusively from induction which differentiates “real science … from unscientific superstitions by its reliance on observations, generalization, and repeated confirmation”, however it was crucial in forming the basis of this theory (400). Continental Drift was the precursor to plate tectonics in a sense as it used sensory observations including the examination of how continents appeared to fit together like puzzle pieces and how many plant and animal fossils as well as rock formations were shared among continents that currently have no physical connection. These observations led Alfred Wegner, the man who introduced continental drift, to make a general statement that all of the continents must have been together at one time and have progressively shifted because of some force (Ammon). Although this evidence was circumstantial and did not undeniably prove his theory, more proof was repeatedly found with additional fossils and rock formations that were discovered to be shared between continents. Conversely, flat earth theory uses a single experiment known as the Bedford Level Experiment which incorrectly stated the earth was flat (Cox). This experiment does use sensory observations and a generalization regarding said observations which is part of induction, but leaves out the necessary component of repetition that completes it. In
Plate Tectonics is a scientific theory which study how the Earth’s plates are driven and shaped by geological forces to keep them in constant movement. The theory explains the present-day tectonic behavior of the Earth, particularly the global distribution of mountain building, earthquake activity, and volcanism in a series of linear belt. (Pitman, W.C., 2007)
How did Pangea occur, how it influenced our landmasses and will it ever happen again? Growing up I had thought that the world was very close together, and you could get anywhere just by driving. When I first starting to learn that you had to use other transport for places that weren't so accessible I was astonished. I wanted to learn more, as I grew up I feel like I never really got a chance to explore this topic. I think I deeply care about the topic, and I am sure many others want to know how and why the earth looks like what it does. It will help me because it will help me explore something I never learned before. I think it is very important to find what you care about instead, of what