Transcript 107-Wegner-Plates

Wegener
• Wegener – before his
time!!!
• He noticed something
interesting… the coast
of Africa and South
America looked like
they would fit
together!!!
• Then he noticed that there were fossils
that were found on opposite sides of the
ocean! BUT – these animals could not
swim long distances!!!
• Plant fossils, Animal Fossils, Coal Beds,
and some mountain ranges that looked
very much alike.
• This lead to the idea of Continental Drift
Gondwana - Gondwanaland
Mesosaurus
Glossopteris fossil from Antarctica
Lystrosaurus
Cynognathus
• Gondwanaland is named after the
Upper Paleozoic and Mesozoic
formations of the Gondwana
district of central India, which
display a number of shared
geologic features (the "Gondwana
beds").
The Ice Matches a continental ice sheet
covered parts of South America, southern
Africa, India, and southern Australia about
300 million years ago. Glacial striations
(Grooves etched) on rocks show that
glaciers moved from Africa toward the
Atlantic Ocean and from the Atlantic Ocean
onto South America. This
works
if the Atlantic
Ocean was
missing and
the continents
joined.
A Glacier and
what you can
see afterwards
Alaska and
Minnesota /
Illinois
Plates today
Tectonic Plates - names
How do we know where the plate
boundaries are?
Look for the Earthquakes
and Volcanoes!
Blue – deep
Red - shallow
• Volcanoes &
Earthquakes
here – where
Africa is
starting to rip
apart