How do fossils help prove that the continents move quizlet?
fossils provide evidence for continental drift because there was fossils from the same animals and plants found on different continents. around the coast of the two continents, fossils were found on what would have been connected. deposits of coal have been found beneath the ice of antarctica.
What do fossils tell us about the continents?
There are many examples of fossils found on separate continents and nowhere else, suggesting the continents were once joined. If Continental Drift had not occurred, the alternative explanations would be: The species evolved independently on separate continents – contradicting Darwin's theory of evolution.
What evidence supports the theory of continental drift?
The four pieces of evidence for the continental drift include continents fitting together like a puzzle, scattering ancient fossils, rocks, mountain ranges, and the old climatic zones' locations.
What provides evidence for continental drift and plate tectonics?
Modern continents hold clues to their distant past. Evidence from fossils, glaciers, and complementary coastlines helps reveal how the plates once fit together.
Which fossil would be most useful for evidence of a continental drift?
Possibly the most important fossil evidence found is the plant, Glossopteris. Known as a woody, seed bearing tree, the Glossopteris is named after the Greek description for tongue due to its tongue shaped leaves and is the largest genus of the extinct descendant of seed ferns.
What was the evidence of continental drift?
The four pieces of evidence for the continental drift include continents fitting together like a puzzle, scattering ancient fossils, rocks, mountain ranges, and the old climatic zones' locations.
How does fossil evidence support the theory of plate tectonics?
Evidence from fossils, glaciers, and complementary coastlines helps reveal how the plates once fit together. Fossils tell us when and where plants and animals once existed. Some life "rode" on diverging plates, became isolated, and evolved into new species.
What is fossil evidence?
Fossils are preserved evidence of animals, plants, and bacteria that lived in the past. There are many different types of fossils. Trace fossils are footprints, burrows, plant roots, or even feces left behind by once-living organisms.
What two pieces of fossil evidence support the idea of continental drift?
Observation of the fit of the continents into one large mass, Common Fossil Findings across continents, and Mid-Ocean Ridges The similarities between the Appalachian and the eastern Greenland mountain ranges are evidences for the continental drift hypothesis.
How the fossil evidence helped you to put the landmasses together?
Evidence from fossilized organisms and mountain chains can be used to reconstruct the positions of today's continents and landmasses to form the supercontinent Pangea. Glossopteris ferns had very heavy seeds that could not move by wind or drift on ocean currents.
How did the continents move?
Today, we know that the continents rest on massive slabs of rock called tectonic plates. The plates are always moving and interacting in a process called plate tectonics. The continents are still moving today.
What caused the continents to move?
The movement of these tectonic plates is likely caused by convection currents in the molten rock in Earth's mantle below the crust. Earthquakes and volcanoes are the short-term results of this tectonic movement. The long-term result of plate tectonics is the movement of entire continents over millions of years (Fig.
What fossils prove continental drift?
Four fossil examples include: the Mesosaurus, Cynognathus, Lystrosaurus, and Glossopteris. Modern day representation of the Mesosaurus. The Mesosaurus is known to have been a type of reptile, similar to the modern crocodile, which propelled itself through water with its long hind legs and limber tail.
What proves continental drift?
The four pieces of evidence for the continental drift include continents fitting together like a puzzle, scattering ancient fossils, rocks, mountain ranges, and the old climatic zones' locations.
How do fossils prove evolution?
Fossils provide evidence for the evolutionary change through now extinct forms that led to modern species. For example, there is a rich fossil record that shows the evolutionary transitions from horse ancestors to modern horses that document intermediate forms and a gradual adaptation o changing ecosystems.
How do we know the continents have moved?
Fossils of similar organisms across widely disparate continents encouraged the revolutionary theory of continental drift. 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.
What do you think made the continents move?
The Earth's crust is broken up into a series of massive sections called plates. These tectonic plates rest upon the convecting mantle, which causes them to move.
Which two pieces of fossil evidence support the idea of continental drift?
The similarities between the Appalachian and the eastern Greenland mountain ranges are evidences for the continental drift hypothesis. Ancient fossils of the same species of extinct plants and animals are found in rocks of the same age but are on continents that are now widely separated (figure 3).
What are two types of evidence that support the moving of the continents?
Modern continents hold clues to their distant past. Evidence from fossils, glaciers, and complementary coastlines helps reveal how the plates once fit together.
How rocks fossils and climate provided evidence of continental drift?
How did fossils provide evidence for continental drift? Similar fossils occur on different continents. Because many of these organisms could not have crossed an ocean, this provides evidence that the continents were once connected.
What is the importance of fossils?
They are a tangible connection to life, landscapes, and climates of the past. They show us how life, landscapes, and climate have changed over time and how living things responded to those changes. Those lessons are particularly important as modern climate continues to change. All fossils are irreplaceable!
What made continents move?
The movement of these tectonic plates is likely caused by convection currents in the molten rock in Earth's mantle below the crust. Earthquakes and volcanoes are the short-term results of this tectonic movement. The long-term result of plate tectonics is the movement of entire continents over millions of years (Fig.
Do you think these fossils found in different continents can be a substantial evidence to support the theory on moving plates explain your answer by citing an example?
One type of evidence that strongly supported the Theory of Continental Drift is the fossil record. Fossils of similar types of plants and animals in rocks of a similar age have been found on the shores of different continents, suggesting that the continents were once joined.
What evidence supports the claim of Earth’s continents?
Which evidence supports the claim that Earth's continents formed during Precambrian time? Earth's surface cooled, causing rocks to cool and harden. Why is radioactive dating important when approximating the age of Earth? Scientists can determine the order of when rocks formed on Earth.
How do scientists use fossils to explain plate tectonics?
Answer and Explanation: Fossil evidence supports the theory of plate tectonics by providing evidence that some continental plates that are currently separated by an ocean…
What made the continents move?
The movement of these tectonic plates is likely caused by convection currents in the molten rock in Earth's mantle below the crust. Earthquakes and volcanoes are the short-term results of this tectonic movement. The long-term result of plate tectonics is the movement of entire continents over millions of years (Fig.
How are fossils used by scientists to show that the theory of continental drift is correct?
One type of evidence that strongly supported the Theory of Continental Drift is the fossil record. Fossils of similar types of plants and animals in rocks of a similar age have been found on the shores of different continents, suggesting that the continents were once joined.
What is the animal fossil that helped support the theory of continental drift?
Lystrosaurus provides an important piece of evidence in the debate about whether Earth's continents had significantly changed their positions in the geological past, the idea first proposed by German meteorologist and geophysicist Alfred Wegener in 1912 and popularly known as continental drift.