Continental Drift Treasure Hunt
Used to correspond with the “Our Changing World” activity
1. Do plates move horizontally, vertically, or both?
2. What do plates float on?
3. What type of rock are oceanic plates made of?
4. What type of rock are continental plates made of?
5. What is the name of the area where the crust goes back down into the Earth?
6. What is the process of new crust formation called?
7. When two continental plates collide, what types of mountains are formed?
8. What is the name of the supercontinent that existed about 200 million through 100
million years ago?
9. Who first stated the theory of continental drift?
10. Name a fossil that was found on different continents and was used to support the
theory of continental drift.
You can find the answers by reading the information from the following website:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/planets/earth/Continents.shtml
About Pangea
1. Did you have trouble making your reconstruction by “dragging and dropping”? Why?
2. What are some additional considerations or pieces of information that would be useful for
your reconstruction to be more accurate?
3. What additional scientific information would be useful to have?
4. When you made your version of Pangea, did any of the continents change latitude (move
up or down) or did you simply move them side-to side, changing only their longitude?
5. What implications does a change in latitude (North or South movement) have for the
fossils that you might find on these continents?
6. Scientists have found fossils of gigantic ferns in areas now covered over half a mile deep
in ice. How can you explain these findings?
7. Some islands have creatures living on them that are found nowhere else on earth. For
example, Hawaii has wingless flies, Australia has the kangaroo and koala, etc. Could
have these species, at one time, lived other places on earth? Explain your answer.
8. Could the kangaroo have “hopped” to Australia? Explain your answer.
9. Historians have documented ancient trade routes between Asia and the America’s using
the Bering Strait. Does this support what you have learned about Pangea? Explain.
10. In the Florida Everglades, new floating islands are formed from sediment that is caught
from changing currents. Scientists have documented that within a year these growing
islands are colonized by insects, reptiles, and often birds. How might this happen?