Continental DriftBy: Vanessa, Nina, and Sarah

1. Continental Drift was a hypothesis that that the continents broke apart and moved slowly to their current positions.

2. Pangaea was an ancient landmass where the continents were all joined together.

3. Alfred Wegener was meteorologist who suggested that all the continents moved to their current positions.

4. Rocks, fossils of animals, and fossils of plants are all evidence of continental drift.

Test Questions

In 1902 meteorologist Alfred Wegener suggested the hypothesis that all the continents were once joined

Wegener’s hypothesis was turned down at the time because he didn’t have enough evidence to prove it

After Wegener’s death, geologists and physicists found evidence to support the hypothesis of continental drift

Who Thought of It?

Rocks were found on different continents that had layers that matched up

The reptile Mesosaurus lived in freshwater an on land and was found on the continents of South America and Africa

Warm- weathered plant found on the cold weathered island of Spitsbergen showing that the island moved from a warm climate to a colder climate

People like Wegener noticed that the some of the continents look like they once fit together

Evidence of Continental Drift

Pangaea

By looking at the map, you can notice that the some continents look like they fit together such as South America and Africa

Key Points/ Summing Up the Section

1. Wegener used climate clues to support his hypothesis of continental drift by discovering warm weathered plants on cold continents and glacier marks on warm continents.

2. Rock clues were used to support the hypothesis of continental drift because rocks on different continents have layers that line up with each other.

Key Points/ Summing up the Section

3. Climate clues help to support the hypothesis of continental drift because fossils of the warm- weathered plant Glossopteris have been found on cold continents and evidence of glacier marks have been found on warm continents.

4. You would expect to see similar rocks and rock structures on landmasses that were once connected because the rocks were formed during Pangaea before the landmasses and rocks on them broke apart and drifted slowly to their current locations.