Continental Drift

Alfred Wegener:

• a german scientist who proposed the idea that the continents were slowly drifting apart

• wegener said that all of the continents were once joined together in a super continent which he named Pangaea which existed 200 million years ago

• he suggested that Pangaea began to break apart 200 million years ago, and slowly drifted around to form our modern day continents

Evidence of Continental Drift:

1. Fit of Continents

   • wegener noticed that the coast lines of africa and south america fit together like puzzle pieces

   • this is the same with some other countries/continents

     • Example #1: America and Africa

2. Fossils

   • the fossils of the same plants and animals are found today in separated continents (like africa and america)

   • this doesn’t really make sense, because these specfic species had no logical way to mass migrate across the ocean

     • Example #1: Mesosaurus (fossils have only been found in south america and africa, and this is a small reptile, so its unlikely that it could migrate across the ocean)

3. Mountain Chains

   • there are mountains that match up if the continents are rearranged

     • Example #1: Appalachian and Caledonian Mountains (these mountains are in different continents, and yet they are the same formation and age)