Continental Drift
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Transcript Continental Drift
In 1912, Alfred Wegner proposed that
continents ‘drifted’ on large ocean basins
Evidence:
1. Continents seem to fit together like puzzle
pieces
2. Evidence of rock formations at continent
boundaries
3. Evidence of similar fossils at continent
boundaries
4. Climatic evidence of continent change
An extinct group of seed plants that existed
approximately 250 million years ago on the
great southern continent of Gondwana.
Fossils of this plant existed on every
continent during the Permian Era (~250
million years ago)
Although this explained why the land
continents fit together like puzzle pieces, they
did not explain a driving/causal force and could
not reconcile how Earth’s crust is solid.
Continental Drift was eventually replaced by the
more scientific model of Plate Tectonics.
P. 472 Q: 2, 4, 5
Read section 17.2 and answer questions 2 and 6