Admin Why don t the present continents fit perfectly into a supercontinent?
Pangaea: 335 million years ago, all the landmasses on Earth were joined together in a single supercontinent of Pangaea. Over time, the geological forces which brought the continents together eventually caused them to drift apart.
Why did the continents not fit exactly like a jigsaw puzzle?
As new land is produced at the mid-Atlantic ridge, old land is being subducted at our continental borders. The theory of continental drift simply stated that continents drifted from one location to another over time. Wegener noticed that the coasts of South America and Africa seemed to fit together like a puzzle.
How did the continents fit together?
The continents fit together like pieces of a puzzle. Alfred Wegener proposed that the continents were once united into a single supercontinent named Pangaea, meaning all earth in ancient Greek. He suggested that Pangaea broke up long ago and that the continents then moved to their current positions.
Why do the landmasses fit together?
Alfred Wegener collected diverse pieces of evidence to support his theory, including geological “fit” and fossil evidence. This indicates that these continents were once joined together because the extensive oceans between these land masses act as a barrier for fossil transfer.
What is the idea of continental drift?
Continental drift was a theory that explained how continents shift position on Earth’s surface. Set forth in 1912 by Alfred Wegener, a geophysicist and meteorologist, continental drift also explained why look-alike animal and plant fossils, and similar rock formations, are found on different continents.
Why was continental drift so controversial during Alfred Wegener’s time what explanation was necessary to support his hypothesis?
What explanation was necessary to support his hypothesis? Continental drift is not easily observable because tectonic plates move very slowly. When Wegener proposed the continental drift hypothesis, he was unable to identify a force that could move continents.
Why do the continents look like they fit together like puzzle pieces?
Geological “fit” evidence is the matching of large-scale geological features on different continents. The coastlines of South America and West Africa seem to match up. Scientists have found that rocks on the east coast of South America are the same as rocks found on the west coast of Africa.
What does it mean that the seven continents fit together like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle?
The Atlantic coasts of Africa and South America appear to fit together neatly, like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The same shape is also traced out by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, shown on this map by the light-colored area (representing relatively shallow seas) between the two continents.