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 3 evidence did Wegener use in his theory?
Alfred Wegener, in the first three decades of this century, and DuToit in the 1920s and 1930s gathered evidence that the continents had moved. They based their idea of continental drift on several lines of evidence: fit of the continents, paleoclimate indicators, truncated geologic features, and fossils .
What evidence 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 Alfred Wegener theory and what evidence did he find to support it?
Wegener then assembled an impressive amount of evidence to show that Earth’s continents were once connected in a single supercontinent . Wegener knew that fossil plants and animals such as mesosaurs, a freshwater reptile found only South America and Africa during the Permian period, could be found on many continents.
What are 5 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 are two pieces of evidence for seafloor spreading?
Several types of evidence from the oceans supported Hess’s theory of sea-floor spreading- evidence from molten material, magnetic stripes, and drilling samples . This evidence also led sci- entists to look again at Wegener’s theory of continental drift.
What are 3 pieces of evidence for Pangea?
Alfred Wegener, in the first three decades of this century, and DuToit in the 1920s and 1930s gathered evidence that the continents had moved. They based their idea of continental drift on several lines of evidence: fit of the continents, paleoclimate indicators, truncated geologic features, and fossils .
What was the response to Wegener’s hypothesis?
“That was always his response: Just assert it again, even more strongly .” By the time Wegener published the final version of his theory, in 1929, he was certain it would sweep other theories aside and pull together all the accumulating evidence into a unifying vision of the earth’s history.
Why did most geologists disagree with Wegener’s ideas?
The main reason that Wegener’s hypothesis was not accepted was because he suggested no mechanism for moving the continents . He thought the force of Earth’s spin was sufficient to cause continents to move, but geologists knew that rocks are too strong for this to be true.
Why was Pangea not accepted?
Despite having this geological and paleontological evidence, Wegener’s theory of continental drift was not accepted by the scientific community, because his explanation of the driving forces behind continental movement (which he said stemmed from the pulling force that created Earth’s equatorial bulge or the ...
Why was Wegener’s theory rejected first?
Wegener also suggested that India drifted northward into the asian continent thus forming the Himalayas. ... This idea was quickly rejected by the scientific community primarily because the actual forces generated by the rotation of the earth were calculated to be insufficient to move continents .
How the fossil evidence helped you to put the landmasses together?
Alfred Wegener collected diverse pieces of evidence to support his theory, including geological “fit” and fossil evidence. This indicates that these continents had to be once joined together because the extensive oceans between these land masses act as a type of barrier for fossil transfer. ...
What is believed to cause the plates to move?
The heat from radioactive processes within the planet’s interior causes the plates to move, sometimes toward and sometimes away from each other. This movement is called plate motion, or tectonic shift.
What does Pangaea mean in Greek?
Pangea was surrounded by a global ocean called Panthalassa, and it was fully assembled by the Early Permian Epoch (some 299 million to 273 million years ago). ... Its name is derived from the Greek pangaia, meaning “all the Earth .”
Where is Earth’s heat energy most concentrated?
Where Do We Find Geothermal Energy? Although heat from the center of the Earth is migrating to the surface everywhere, the heat is concentrated at the edges of tectonic plates .
What are 4 pieces of evidence for seafloor spreading?
Harry Hess’s hypothesis about seafloor spreading had collected several pieces of evidence to support the theory. This evidence was from the investigations of the molten material, seafloor drilling, radiometric age dating and fossil ages, and the magnetic stripes .
