Pros And Cons Of Continental Drift

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.

The plate tectonics theory was made by a German named Alfred Wegener. He stated that a single continent existed about 300 million years ago named Pangaea and that it split into two continents of Laurasia in the north and Gondwanaland in the south. Today’s continents were formed by further splitting of the two masses.

The theory of plate tectonics was first developed by Alfred Wegener. He concluded that the continents seem to have a similar shape and could potentially fit together. This suggested that they were at one time joined together as part of 2 super continents called Gondwanaland and Laurasia was in the north. This theory was said to be proven by the discovery of fossilised remains of a mesosaurus that were found on the coasts of Brazil and Gabon. Sea floor spreading is another theory that supports the idea of plate tectonics; this theory discovered that rock is being formed under the ocean as a new sea floor. Sea floor spreading was shown in the Atlantic, where it is believed the Eurasian and North American plates are moving apart on a

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.

In junior high school, I have learned the Continental Drift Theory, and my geography teacher told me there was a new theory based on the Continental Theory, i.e. Plate Tectonics. I accessed to the Internet to find the information about Plate Tectonics.

For example, The appalachian Mountains were formed by a massive continental collision over 300 million years ago. According to page 88 in my science notebook, the rocks in the Chattooga River is evidence of the continental collision. Mountains are formed when two continental plates collide, and form the mountains. The Appalachian mountains, were formed during Pangea. The North American Plate and the African Plate collided. When this happened the Appalachian Mountains were formed. These mountains then grew bigger, but as soon as it started growing, it also eroded. Erosion and

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

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.

Wegener provided numerous explanations and documentation in support of his continental drift theory. He provided two fossils as evidence. Glossopteris because it had been found on several continents that were widely separated. Glossopteris, also known as a seed fern fossil, was too large to be transported by the wind. The other was Mesosaurus which was a small aquatic freshwater reptile (Lutgens & Tarbuck, 2014, p. 154). Other scientists believed this was possible because land bridges had once existed or explained it away as drafting. Wegener most likely did not offer fossil sharks or jellyfish as evidence due to the fact that these fish inhabit all major oceans on the planet.

Why does the Earth have different continents? A informative documentary by The New York Time named “Animated Life: Pangea” shows us that a scientist had an idea of continental drift. It reveal to us that all the trouble he went through to prove his idea is correct instead of just saying something and not proving it since the idea was rejected once. This documentary showed us that all the evidence that Alfred Wegener found during his discoveries such as same fossil found in different continent and continental fitment. This documentary mostly focus on the courage of Alfred Wegener because how much he been through to find out this theory.

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

A piece of evidence we have for plate tectonics is when the continents separated from one another. We have evidence this happened because there have been fossils found in two different areas of the world and we know that they couldn't have physically gotten there endless at one time the continents were together. Another piece of evidence is mountain ranges because in order for a mountain range to exist there has to be two plates colliding causing the ground push up to form the mountains.

Continental drift all started with a theory that all the continents were connected called Pangaea, becoming a super-continent this was discovered by Alfred Wegener a polar researcher, Geophysicist, and a meteorologist. It was first proposed in 1912, and Alfred says this occurred around 299 million to 273 million years ago but the super-continent started to break apart 200 million years ago. The most popular and major evidence for Pangaea was that some of the continents fit perfectly together. The most noticeable continents were North Western coast of Africa and the Eastern coast of South America, theses two looked like they could been once connected. Another piece of evidence is the distribution of fossils, archaeologists have been discovering

Climate change is the term used to describe the warming of the average surface temperature on earth. Climate change; often referred to as the general term global warming, is a topic that often inspires fierce debate among those on both sides of the issue. One thing those who are pro and those that are con both agree on is that the temperature on earth has increased over the past century by an average of 1.4 degrees. The big debate on the two sides is if the warming temperatures are caused by human activities and if it is not stopped it will have dire consequences (the pro side) or if it is the result of natural causes and the earth’s surface will find ways to adapt such as crops becoming more heat resistant (the con side).

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