Continental Drift

Definition
Continental Shift is the theory of Earths movement

and shift, that takes place between the Continents on Earth in relation to each other. This theory is closely related to the theory of Plate tectonic.

Pioneer
In 1596 a map maker Abraham Ortelius came up with

the Theory of Continental shift, because of the shapes of the continents and how they looked that they may have fit together at one point of time. Especially the continent of Africa and South America.

th 20

Century

In 1912 the theory of Continental Shift was completed

by German Meteorologist Alfred Wegener. Wegener provided evidence that was reasonable and that made sense but couldn't explain the mechanism or processes behind the movement of continents (Wikipedia).

Rejected Theory
In the early 1900s the Continental Drift theory was

rejected by many scientist at the time. Because Wegener and fellow scientist that supported him and the theory could not explain the couldn't explain the mechanism or processes behind the movement of continents, it was rejected by many.

Arthur Holmes
By 1929 the theory of Continental drift was not taken

serious and Scientist Arthur Holmes came up with a hypothesis to help explain Wegeners theory.
Holmes stated that suggested that this thermal

convection was like a conveyor belt and that the upwelling pressure could break apart a continent and then force the broken continent in opposite directions carried by the convection currents. This idea received very little attention at the time(earthscience.org).

Plate Tectonics
In the early 1960s when the tectonic plates of the

Earth were proven and accepted by the science community. The Theory of Continental Drift was then accepted by the scientific community. Do to the discovery of the Tectonic plates is validity the Theory of Continental Shift because it proved that the Earths Continents to move and that with all the other evidence of plants and animals being on the Coast of continents believed to have been connected at once it made it beyond reasonable plausible for the theory to be factual.

Historical Events Continued

Also around 1915 they found and animal named Mesosaurus. It was

found in South America and Africa further justifying Wegener theory of one continent. They also found other fossil from other animals that lived on the coasts of the continents that were assumed to have connected at some time in the past.

Historical Events
Just this past year Japan experienced a 8.9 Earthquake and Tsunami.

This was caused by plate tectonic. This Earthquake shifted Eastern Japan towards North America by about 13 feet(Goodwin,2011)

Scientific Significance
Down the road, data from the quake will provide an

unusually precise view of how Earth is deformed during massive earthquakes at sites where one plate is sliding under another, including the U.S. Pacific Northwest, scientists said(Brown, 2011)
Also due to the size and the fact the this shifted Japan

closer to the US, as well as shifted the Earths Axis, it will help scientist to further be prepared for the catastrophic earthquake expected to hit the West Coast of the US anytime now.

2011 Earthquake in Context

2011 Earthquake that hit Japan is one of the worst earthquakes

to hit that region in over 50 years. This is one of the worst natural disasters to hit Japan. Also killing many people and destroying many buildings in that region because they were not prepared for a sudden earthquake of that magnitude. Due to much media coverage the world was able to get information quickly to alert people around the world that may have been affected, such as the tsunami warning for Hawaii and the West Coast of the United States of America. People were able to evacuate those regions because they had ample warning due to the coverage going on in Japan and the disastrous effects going on there.

References

Continental drift - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved October 3, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_drift The Dynamic Earth @ National Museum of Natural History. (n.d.). Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History NMNH. Retrieved October 3, 2011, from http://www.mnh.si.edu/earth/text/4_1_2_3.html Why was the continental drift theory or hypothesis rejected at the time that Alfred Wegener proposed it. (n.d.). The Q&A wiki. Retrieved October 3, 2011, from http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_was_the_continental_drift_theory_or_hypothesis_rejected_at_the _time_that_Alfred_Wegener_proposed_it#ixzz1ZjqiAwed plate tectonics. (n.d.). Earth Science Australia. Retrieved October 3, 2011, from http://earthsci.org/education/teacher/basicgeol/platec/platec.html plate tectonics: history of an idea.. (n.d.). UCMP - University of California Museum of Paleontology. Retrieved October 3, 2011, from http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/geology/techist.html Goodwin, L. (2011, March 14). Japans earthquake shifted balance of the planet | The Lookout - Yahoo! News. Yahoo! News - Latest News & Headlines. Retrieved October 5, 2011, from http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/japan-earthquake-shifted-balance-planet-20110314-065608417.html Brown, E., & Times, L. A. (2011, March 13). Japan earthquake science: Japan earthquake shifted Earth on its axis - Los Angeles Times. Featured Articles From The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 5, 2011, from http://articles.latimes.com/2011/mar/13/science/la-sci-japan-quake-science-20110313