What are the 5 evidences of continental drift?
They based their idea of continental drift on several lines of evidence: fit of the continents, paleoclimate indicators, truncated geologic features, and fossils.
What are 3 pieces of evidence that support continental drift?
The evidence for continental drift included the fit of the continents; the distribution of ancient fossils, rocks, and mountain ranges; and the locations of ancient climatic zones.
What evidence did Alfred Wegener use for continental drift?
Wegener supported his theory by demonstrating the biological and geological similarities between continents. South America and Africa contain fossils of animals found only on those two continents, with corresponding geographic ranges.
What is the evidence for continental drift and plate tectonics?
Fossil Evidence 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 evidence for continental drift quizlet?
Fossils of same creature have been found on different continents that are separated today but were once joined. For example. a 20 cm Mesosaurus reptile could not have swam 3000 miles across and ocean. It's more likely the continents were together and over 40 million years it walked.
What supports the theory of continental drift?
Fossil Evidence 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 was Wegener’s evidence for continental drift quizlet?
The Theory of Continental Drift was proposed by Alfred Wegener in 1912. He used several pieces of evidence to support his theory including fossils, rocks, glacial markings, coal deposits and the fact that the continents fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. .
What evidence did Wegener find for Pangaea quizlet?
Wegener showed that certain types of rocks on the continents would match with others in another continent. What did Wegener realize about the oldest rocks on the Afircan and South American continents? That they were connected together when the continents were arranged to form Pangaea.
What are the 4 major sources of evidence for the theory of plate tectonics?
There is variety of evidence that supports the claims that plate tectonics accounts for (1) the distribution of fossils on different continents, (2) the occurrence of earthquakes, and (3) continental and ocean floor features including mountains, volcanoes, faults, and trenches.
What was Wegener’s evidence for his theory?
Wegener supported his theory by demonstrating the biological and geological similarities between continents. South America and Africa contain fossils of animals found only on those two continents, with corresponding geographic ranges.
What evidence supports Alfred’s theory?
fossil evidence Alfred Wegener collected diverse pieces of evidence to support his theory, including geological “fit” and fossil evidence.
How was the continental drift theory proven?
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.
Which of these provides the best evidence for the continental drift theory?
Q. Which of the following statements about Glossopteris fossils provides the best evidence to support Wegener's Continental Drift theory? Glossopteris fossils are found in India, South America, Australia, Africa, and Antarctica. This distribution is best explained by tectonic plate movement.
What are pieces of evidence that Wegener used to support his idea?
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 evidence supports Wegener’s continental drift hypothesis quizlet?
What evidence supported the hypothesis 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 evidence is given for continental plate movement?
Modern continents hold clues to their distant past. 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.
What evidence did Wegener use to develop the continental drift Theory?
Wegener supported his theory by demonstrating the biological and geological similarities between continents. South America and Africa contain fossils of animals found only on those two continents, with corresponding geographic ranges.
What is the evidence for Wegener’s theory of continental drift quizlet?
The Theory of Continental Drift was proposed by Alfred Wegener in 1912. He used several pieces of evidence to support his theory including fossils, rocks, glacial markings, coal deposits and the fact that the continents fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. .
What evidence did Alfred use?
He used fossil evidence, such as that of tropical plants found on the Arctic island of Spitzbergen. He found large-scale geographic features that matched, like the Appalachian Mountains in the United States and the Scottish Highlands, as well as rock strata in South Africa that matched those in Brazil.
What are examples of continental drift?
The fossils of Mesosaurus, a freshwater reptile rather like a small crocodile, found both in Brazil and South Africa, are one example; another is the discovery of fossils of the land reptile Lystrosaurus in rocks of the same age at locations in Africa, India, and Antarctica.
What are the 4 types of tectonic plate movement?
What are the major plate tectonic boundaries?
- Divergent: extensional; the plates move apart. Spreading ridges, basin-range.
- Convergent: compressional; plates move toward each other. Includes: Subduction zones and mountain building.
- Transform: shearing; plates slide past each other. Strike-slip motion.
What are some examples of evidence that suggest that some continents were once joined and have since separated?
Fossil Evidence 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. For example, fossils of Mesosaurus, a freshwater reptile, have been found both in Brazil and western Africa.
How did Alfred Wegener discover continental drift?
Wegener noticed the similarity in the coastlines of eastern South America and western Africa and speculated that those lands had once formed a supercontinent, Pangaea, which had split and slowly moved many miles apart over geologic time.
What evidence supports the idea that all the continents were once joined together?
Fossil Evidence 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. For example, fossils of Mesosaurus, a freshwater reptile, have been found both in Brazil and western Africa.
What was Wegener’s first piece of evidence?
Wegener's first piece of evidence was that the coastlines of some continents fit together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. People noticed the similarities in the coastlines of South America and Africa on the first world maps, and some suggested the continents had been ripped apart (3).
What are the different pieces of evidence for plate movement?
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 caused the continents to drift apart?
Wegener suggested that perhaps the rotation of the Earth caused the continents to shift towards and apart from each other. (It doesn't.) 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.
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.
What are the evidences of plate movements?
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.
How did Wegener discover continental drift?
Searching for evidence to further develop his theory of continental drift, Wegener came across a paleontological paper suggesting that a land bridge had once connected Africa with Brazil.