U3A5: The Evidence Of Moving Continents

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.

Continental drift is the theory that says the continents are moving around on the Earth’s surface, both in the past and now. A man named Alfred Wegener noticed that South America and Africa looked as though they could fit together. Scientists were convinced that it was once a big landform. Research was conducted to find that North America, South America, and Africa fit together. Since the Earth's crust solidified billions of years ago, plates of its crust have been drifting. The map of the Earth is always changing too. In addition, not only are the underlying plates moving, but the plates change in size. Also, the sea level changes over time (as the temperature on Earth varies and the poles melt or freeze to varied extents), covering or exposing

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.

The data amassed by the scientist revealed that the Mid- Atlantic Ridge and the East Pacific Rise and countless other locations on the ocean floors display the same arrangements of varying magnetic stripes. As new volcanic rock erupts through fractures on the floor of the ocean, a progression identified as seafloor spreading, which causes the seafloor to widen (Trefil & Hazen, 2010). This new rock will be pushed aside as the continents are moved apart and as more magma comes up to take its place. The iron ore in this latest rock will steer to the position of the magnetic north pole once they get through to the top. Every occasion, that the planet’s magnetic field moves in the opposing direction, the dipole course of the planets magnetic field adjust and becomes encased in the recently constructed rock (Trefil & Hazen, 2010).

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.

Plate tectonics is the scientific theory that attempts to explain the movements of the Earth's lithosphere that have formed the landscape features we see across the globe today” (Briney). Geology defines “plate” as a large slab of solid rock, and “tectonics” is part of the Greek root word for “to build.” Together the words define how the Earth’s surface is built up of moving plates. The theory of plate tectonics dictates that individual plates, broken down into large and small sections of rock, form Earth’s lithosphere. These fragmented bodies of rock move along each other atop the Earth’s liquid lower mantle to create the plate boundaries that have shaped Earth’s landscape. Plate tectonics originated from meteorologist Alfred Wegener’s theory, developed in the early 20th century. In 1912, he realized that the east coast of South America and the west coast of Africa appeared to piece together like a jigsaw puzzle. He further examined the globe and deduced that all of Earth’s continents could somehow be assembled together and proposed the idea that the continents had once been linked in a single supercontinent called Pangaea. To explain today’s position of the continents, Wegener theorized that they began to drift apart approximately 300 million years ago. This theory

The Plate Tectonic Theory developed in the late 1960’s, when people noticed how continents either side of the Atlantic Ocean seemed to almost fit together. Francis Bacon, an English Philosopher was aware of this as early as 1620. Topographical and geological evidence built up and allowed Alfred Wegener to publish a theory in 1912, suggesting that the continents were once all joined together in a supercontinent he called Pangaea. Wegener proposed that at some time, the land masses had drifted apart until they occupied their current positions on the globe. There was lots of evidence to support his theory including

Wegener also found some evidence for continental drift from fossils of plants and animals. The same type of plant/animal fossils are found on continents that are now far apart from each other. These Plants & Animals would not have been able to swim the oceans.

After reading the article, “Continents Adrift”, we learn that our planet is constantly changing, and that this change has to do with continental drift. As noted on page 196, “About 250 million years ago, most of the land on Earth was clumped together. Instead of the seven continents, there was a single large landmass called Pangaea. Over time, Pangaea split apart.” The idea that the continents are drifting or moving apart has been studied by scientists since the late 1700s. For instance, scientists such as Georges-Louis Leclerc Buffon and Alfred Wegener theorized that continents were drifting apart. Although these scientists had the right idea, people did not believe them because their proof wasn’t strong enough. As more scientists

Using geological evidence, scientists have determined that there was, in fact, once a supercontinent. This supercontinent, Pangea, was made up of the seven continents and was a large landmass surrounded by water. The theory of a supercontinent originated from Alfred Wegener’s theory of continental drift. This theory suggests that continents are slowly drifting around earth. Wegener wasn’t the only one who proposed this theory. The idea has been around since the 16th century, the first time being by Abraham Ortelius. Wegener used geologic, fossil, and glacial evidence from opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean to support his theory. During the 1960s, discoveries of sea-floor spreading and magnetic reversal proved that Wegener's theory was real.

Another line of evidence that supports the drifting of continents is geological similarities between western Africa and eastern South America. Mountain ranges in Buenos Aires, Argentina and mountain ranges in western Africa are similar. There are also mountain ranges that extend

Has anyone lived a life without misfortune? Doubtable; even the person with what could be described as the ideal life deals with some form of adversity. The novel, Speak, and the short story, The Third and Final Continent, both use plot as a way to convey themes of hardship. Moreover, these texts both use symbolism in order to develop their themes as well. The Art of Resilience and Speak utilize characterization as a method of developing their respective themes. Speak, The Third and Final Continent, and The Art of Resilience each deal with the theme that all people must learn to cope with adverse situations.

Alfred Wegener claimed that the continents were very slowly drifting apart. The evidence that best supports Wegener’s claim is fossils found in a continent has the same fossil or fossils in the other nearest continent because a fossil can’t fly or swim across the ocean to get to another continent and bury itself. Another example of strong evidence for Continental drift is there are scratch marks from rocks scratching together in Africa and South America that line up exactly because this is a very extraordinary piece of evidence and why can scratches from Africa and South America line up exactly unless Continental Drift is true. The final piece of convincing evidence is the fit of continents, the fit of continents make the continents look like

The geological event that caused these continents to combine together and split apart from each other is called continental drift. The Continental Drift Theory explains how continents can move along the