Group 3
Members: Angeles, John Angelo
Balbalosa, Jayem
Diangzon, George
Malagueno, Jan Vincent
Continental drift- describes one of the earliest ways geologists thought continents
moved over time. Today, the theory of continental drift has been replaced by the
science of plate tectonics.
The theory of continental drift is most associated with the scientist Alfred Wegener. In
the early 20th century, Wegener published a paper explaining his theory that the
continental landmasses were “drifting” across the Earth, sometimes plowing through
oceans and into each other. He called this movement continental drift.
Evidence
1. Apparent Fit of Continents- Wegener noticed that the coasts of western Africa
and eastern South America looked like the boundaries of joining pieces of a
jigsaw puzzle. He was not the first to notice this, though he was the first to
suggest formally that they were connected.
2. Fossil Correlation- Identical fossils have been found in the rocks on either side
of the ocean. Fossils of Mesosaurus (one of the first marine reptiles, even older
than the dinosaurs) were found in both South America and South Africa. These
finds, plus the study of sedimentation and the fossil plant Glossopteris in these
southern continents led Alexander duToit, a South African scientist, to bolster the
idea of the past existence of a supercontinent in the southern
hemisphere, Eduard Suess's Gondwanaland.
3. Rock and Mountain Correlation- Identical rocks and mountain structures have
been found on either side of the ocean. The mountain ranges in Greenland,
Scandinavia, the British Isles, the East Coast of North America, and Northwest
Africa correlated quite well.
4. Paleoclimate Data- He noted that much of the rock in the Southern Hemisphere
between 200 and 300 million years old showed evidence of glaciation. Coal has
been found in cold regions and glacial evidence has been found in warm regions.