Svenja Stebler
8B Humanities
Ms. Nickell
Continental Drift Theory
Did you know that coal was found in Antarctica but coal can only form in warm and wet places? Could it be
that Antarctica was once in a warmer place? Whenever Alfred Wegener would suggest his idea of the Continental
Drift Theory, people wouldn't accept his ideas, they only thought inside their, but he had solid proof/reasons for
thinking so because he had evidence. In the 1960's Alfred Wegener’s theory and evidence was accepted and known
to be true.
One reason why Alfred Wegener thought of how the Continental Drift Theory could even exist was for the
reason that he found many extraordinary elements that couldn't have formed in that place and climate. Coal can
only form in warm and wet places but it was found in Antarctica, which must mean that Antarctica was once closer
to the equator. The snow and ice on Antarctica is just the left over from the last ice age, under the snow and ice
geologists found the coal field. There are also coal fields in Britain, Belgium and the Appalachian Mountains which
are located in the United States of America. It is natural for coal to form in South America but Britain, Belgium, and
the Appalachian Mountains are too cold for coal to form. Another solid proof of the Pangaea being true is that there
was oak, beech and maple on Antarctica. Trees can only grow to a certain height, above that height they don’t have
the right soil, not enough food/water or too cold. In Norway, Britain, Greenland and Canada there was red
sandstone. The most famous sandstone is in Arizona and Colorado. They are more south than Canada, Greenland,
Norway, etc. are right now. That doesn’t mean that Canada, Greenland or Norway were always that far up north.
Equally important, is that there are matching fossils around the world on different continents. At the bottom
the ocean there is limestone and most of the Himalayas are made of limestone. Geologists as well found fossilized
marine creatures, plankton, clams and fish. There were also some identical fossils found in South America and Africa,
they were buried in the same type of soil, same climate and at the same distance underground. To those times,
South America and Africa were still together, which meant that animals could just walk from one continent without a
problem. There were also identical fossil plants in South America, Southern Africa, India, Antarctica, and Australia.
This picture (below) shows the Glossopteris, the Cynognathus, the Lystrosaurus and the Mesosaurus. The
Glossopteris used to be a fern spread out through South America, Africa, Madagascar, India, Antarctica and
Australia. While the Mesosaurus, a freshwater reptile was only between South America and Africa. The Cynognathus
was in South America and Africa and the Lystrosaurus was in Africa, Madagascar, India and Antarctica. They were
both land reptiles.
Key:
Orange: Region of the Cynognathus
Brown: Region of the Lystrosaurus
Green: Where the Glossopteris existed
Blue: Region of the Mesosaurus
I put this picture in to help the readers understand where
all of the fossils were. If I would not put the picture in
readers would be confused of where the fossils were
found (Egger).
In addition, for why Alfred Wegener thought the Pangaea might be true was because there again were
identical rocks in different continents. The Appalachian Mountains in North America abruptly stop and they fit
together perfectly with the Caledonian Mountains in northern Europe. The Caledonian Mountains should be the
same age like the Alps but since they weren’t in the same place when they were created, the Appalachian Mountains
and the Caledonian Mountains are the same age. When the Indian plate crashed into the Asian, the Himalayas were
created but they were only created because both plates had approximately the same density. If they would have had
different densities, they would have just glided past each other. The Indian plate carried fossils from ancient sea
creatures, when it crashed into the Asian
plate those fossils deposited themselves
Key:
Red: 2000 year old rock- in the Eburnean Province
Green: 550 year old rock- in the Pan- African
Province
I put this in to show where some the same rock
was between South America and Africa was.
Key:
Blue : Identical rocks
Green : Land
I put this picture in for the reason that it
shows where identical rocks are and proves
that Alfred Wegener was right with his
prediction.
onto the Himalayas. When geologists found these, they were dumbfounded, they didn’t know from where
they had come and how they had come onto the Himalayas. This same process happened except with the Alps. The
African plate was carrying fossils which then got deposited onto the Alps. The rocks in the South West Africa and the
rocks in South East Brazil are impossible to tell apart and the same age. The plates are never going to stop moving, so
in a million years the earth will look completely different. The African Plate is moving closer to the European Plate
which is causing the Mediterranean Sea to close up. Also, the North American plate and South American plate are
moving further away from the European plate and the African plate but closer to the Asian plate.
All in all, Alfred Wegener was a great geologist and meteorologist, even if nobody believed him at that time,
he helped a lot of further discoveries. He and other people cleared up a lot that we might have found out much later.
He found the proof, for example coal on Antarctica, sea fossils on mountains and identical rocks on different
continents.
Bibliography
Anne E. Egger "Plate Tectonics I: The Evidence for a Geologic Revolution," 2003. Visionlearning. 18/09/09.
http://www.visionlearning.com/library/module_viewer.php?mid=65 (picture of fossils)
Plate Tectonics. Explorations, 2000-2001. Web. 18 Aug. 2009. <http://www.sio.ucsd.edu/voyager/earth_puzzle/>.
Jessey, David. Plate Tectonics. Aug. 2009. Web. 18 Aug. 2009.
http://geology.csupomona.edu/drjessey/class/Gsc101/Plate.html
. (picture of rocks)
University of Alabama. Plate Tectonics. Aug. 2009. Web. 18 Aug. 2009. http://www.geo.ua.edu/intro03/Plate.html
.