MOVING CONTINENTS

Theory of Continental Drift

Alfred Wegener
-German Meteorologist
-Jigsaw Puzzle effect -Fossil Evidence -Centrifugal Force

Continental Drift Theory

Alfred Wegener (1880 - 1930) German meteorologist suggested in 1912 that continents have moved slowly to their current positions PANGAEA 250 m.y.a. all continents were once connected as one large land mass GONDWANA & LAURASIA - 180 - 200 m.y.a. land mass broke apart, and the Earths continents began drifting to present locations

PANGAEA

GONDWANA & LAURASIA

Continental Drift

History of Continental Drift Theory

Thoughts about continental drift had been around for a very long time Sir Francis Bacon in the early 1600s had written about it Most based theory on deduction and small pieces of evidence Wegner gathered a larger and more complete body of evidence

Evidence for Continental Drift

JIG SAW PUZZLE-like fit of the continents FOSSILS similar fossils on different continents
Glossopteris - ferns Lystrosaurus reptile fossils found in S. Africa, Antarctica, India, China Warm weather plant fossils found in Arctic regions

GLACIAL DEPOSITS found in areas presently in the tropics

Fossil Evidence

Grooves carved by glaciers (shown by arrows) provided evidence for continental drift.

Glacial Evidence

More Evidence
Similar rock structures on different continents
COAL BEDS MOUNTAIN RANGES
rocks on the east coast of S. America match those on the west coast of Africa, tests reveal they formed at the same time (550 mya)

belt of mountains along the east coast of N. America match those existing in northern Europe

MOUNTAIN RANGES
Explanation for their existence
Cooling, Contracting-Earth Theory
they formed on the Earth's crust as wrinkles form on the skin of a drying apple. If this were so, however, they should be spread evenly over the Earth; instead mountain ranges occur in narrow bands, usually at the edge of a continent.

Continental Drift (WEGENER)

Mountains formed when the edge of a drifting continent crumpled and foldedas when India hit Asia and formed the Himalayas.

Similar Layers of Rock

Mountain Chains

No Support for Continental Drift?

Flaws with theory at the time: Earths crust was believed to be too rigid; No suitable mechanism to provide enough energy to move the continents such great distances could be identified Earth does not spin fast enough!

Continental Drift NOT Accepted

NOT accepted because how or why continents had moved could not be explained!!
Wegner tried to base movement of continents on gravitational pull and centrifugal force! The fact that Wegner was a meteorologist led some people to not believe his thoughts on geology particularly when he could not provide evidence to support his hypothesis.

Why wasnt the Theory of Continental Drift Accepted?

METEOROLOGIST vs. GEOLOGIST

DRIVING FORCE = CENTRIFUGAL FORCE OF THE EARTH.

(Not believed to be strong enough.)
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Wegener/wegener.php Nice biography of Alfred Wegener