NSSS1.3

toc =1.3 Drifting Continents=

Vocabulary

 * Pangaea**: the super continent from which the 7 continents were made from.
 * Continental drift:** the force that moved the continents.
 * Fossil**: any trace of an ancient organism that has been preserved in rock.

The Theory of Continental Drift

 * ===Alfred Wegner's Hypothesis===
 * All the continents had once been joined together in a single landmass and have since drifted apart.

Pangaea

 * means "all lands"
 * formed 300 million years ago
 * slowly broke apart into 7 great landmasses now known as the continent

Evidence from landforms

 * Mountain ranges
 * A mountain range running from east to west in South Africa lines up with one in Argentina
 * Coal fields
 * European coal fields match up with coal fields in North America.
 * Evidence from fossils
 * //Glossopetris//
 * India
 * Africa
 * South America
 * Australia
 * Antarctica
 * convinced Wegner that the continents were once united as on single landmass because //Glossopetris's// seed like structures could not have traveled long distances or have crossed the ocean.

Evidence from Climate

 * Spitsenberg
 * lies in the Artic Ocean north of Norway
 * tropical plant fossils have been found
 * Wegner concluded that Spitsenberg was near the equator
 * South Africa
 * Deep scratches in rocks showed that continental glaciers once covered Africa
 * Africa's climate is too mild for glaciers
 * Thus Wegner concluded that South Africa was closer to the North Pole

Scientists reject Wegner's Theory

 * did not provide a satisfactory explanation about what forces push or pull the continents.