Continental Drift Theory

In 1915, the German geologist and meteorologist Alfred

Wegener first proposed the theory of continental drift, which
states that parts of the Earth's crust slowly drift atop a liquid
core. The fossil record supports and gives credence to the
theories of continental drift and plate tectonics.
Wegener hypothesized that there was a gigantic
supercontinent 200 million years ago, which he
named Pangaea, meaning "All-earth".
Pangaea started to break up into two smaller supercontinents, called Laurasia and Gondwanaland, during
the Jurassic period. By the end of the Cretaceous period, the continents were separating into land masses
that look like our modern-day continents.
Wegener published this theory in his 1915 book, On the Origin of
Continents and Oceans. In it he also proposed the existence of the
supercontinent , and named it (Pangaea means "all the land" in Greek).
Evidence: The Continental Jigsaw Puzzle
Did it really start as one big landmass? It seems very impossible that the seven continents, which are
currently thousands of miles away from each other were actually connected pieces of a supercontinent.
The most visible and fascinating evidence that these continents were once one is their shapes. The edge
of one continent surprisingly matches the edge of another: South America and Africa fit together; India,
Antarctica, and Australia match one another; Eurasia and North America complete the whole continental
puzzle in the north.
Evidence from Fossils
Fossils are preserved remains or traces of organisms (plants and animals) from the remote past. Fossilized
leaves of an extinct plant Glossopteris were found in 250 million years old rocks. These fossils were
located in the continents of Southern Africa, Australia, India, and Antarctica, which are now separated from
each other by wide oceans. The large seeds of this plant could not possibly travel a long journey by the
wind or survive a rough ride through ocean waves.

The incredible shrinking plant

When Wegener proposed
continental drift, many geologists
were contractionists. They
thought Earth's incredible
mountains were created because
our planet was cooling and
shrinking since its formation,
Frankel said. And to account for
the identical fossils discovered on
continents such as South America
and Africa, scientists invoked
ancient land bridges, now
vanished beneath the sea.
Researchers argued over the land
bridges right up until the plate
tectonics theory was developed,
Frankel said. For instance, as

geophysicists began to realize that continental rocks were too light to sink down to the ocean floor, prominent
paleontologists instead suggested that the similarities between fossils had been overestimated, Frankel said.
Plate tectonics is the widely accepted theory that Earth's crust is fractured into rigid, moving plates. In the
1950s and 1960s, scientists discovered the plate edges through magnetic surveys of the ocean floor and through
the seismic listening networks built to monitor nuclear testing. Alternating patterns of magnetic anomalies on
the ocean floor indicated seafloor spreading, where new plate material is born. Magnetic minerals aligned in
ancient rocks on continents also showed that the continents have shifted relative to one another.
Evidence for continental drift
A map of the continents inspired Wegener's quest to explain Earth's geologic history. Trained as a
meteorologist, he was intrigued by the interlocking fit of Africa's and South America's shorelines. Wegener then
assembled an impressive amount of evidence to show that Earth's continents were once connected in a single
supercontinent.
Wegener knew that fossil plants and animals such as mesosaurs, a freshwater reptile found only South America
and Africa during the Permian period, could be found on many continents. He also matched up rocks on either
side of the Atlantic Ocean like puzzle pieces. For example, the Appalachian Mountains (United States) and
Caledonian Mountains (Scotland) fit together, as do the Karroo strata in South Africa and Santa Catarina rocks
in Brazil.