Written Report in Science

(Group 6)

“Evidences of Plate
Movements”

Submitted by:
Gio Bryan D. Landicho
Jhreiyjhon Manaluz
Carlos Hugo Costales
Vinz Harold Gubatan
Roesel Zoe Novenario
Allen Sarmiento

10- Tai Zong

Evidence of Plate Movement

Evidence of Plate Tectonics Evidence from fossils, glaciers, and complementary coastlines
helps reveal how plates once fit together. Modern continents hold clues to their distant
past. Evidence from fossils, glaciers, and complementary coastlines helps reveal how the
plates once fit together.
The Distribution of Fossils on different Continents

Fossils tell us when and where plants and animals once existed. Some life "rode" on
diverging plates, became isolated, and evolved into new species. Other life dispersed to
new areas as continents reconnected, oceans narrowed, or chains of volcanic islands
formed. Finding identical or similar fossils in areas separated by vast distances were some
of the first clues that scientists used to reconstruct past plate movement. This distribution
of fossils led to theories that the southern continents were once joined in a supercontinent
called Gondwana. Similar geologic formations on different continents show historic land
connections. Antarctica’s mountains are an extension of South America’s Andes. If Southern
Hemisphere continents were reassembled into a single landmass, glacial remnants in Africa
and India would realign Fossils are found in Australia, South Africa,South America, India
and Antarctica. When the continents of the southern hemisphere are re-assembled into the
single land mass of Gondwanaland, the distribution of these four fossil types form linear
and continuous patterns of distribution across continental boundaries. Fossils of similar
types of plants and animals in rocks of a similar age have been found on the shores of
different continents, suggesting that the continents were once joined. For example, fossils
of Mesosaurus, a freshwater reptile, have been found both in Brazil and western Africa.
The Occurrence of Earthquakes

Earthquakes are the result of sudden movement along faults within the Earth. The
movement releases stored-up 'elastic strain' energy in the form of seismic waves, which
propagate through the Earth and cause the ground surface to shake.
When the stress on the edge overcomes the friction, there is an earthquake that releases
energy in waves that travel through the earth's crust and cause the shaking that we feel.
Continental and ocean floor features including mountains, volcanoes, faults and
trenches

There are nine main features of the ocean floor which include (1) continental shelf, (2)
continental slope, (3) continental rise, (4) abyssal plains, (5) abyssal hill, (6) mid-ocean
ridges, (7) seamounts, (deep ocean trenches, and (9) volcanic islands

The continental shelf is the ocean floor nearest the edges of continents. It has a a gentle
slope. The water over the continental shelf is shallow. The continental slope lies between
the continental shelf and the abyssal plain. It has a steep slope with a sharp drop to the
deep ocean floor
Reflection

Finding identical or similar fossils in areas separated by vast distances were some of the
first clues that scientists used to reconstruct past plate movement. This distribution of
fossils led to theories that the southern continents were once joined in a supercontinent
called Gondwana.

The movement of these plates results in the formation of mountains, faults, and volcanoes.
It is believed that earlier the Earth was a single landmass and due to continental drift,
different continents and oceans were formed.