Alfred Wenger
Who came up with the idea of continental drift?
Alfred Wegener
What does continental drift describe?
The slow movement of continents
What was Pangaea?
A supercontinent.
What was Earth’s land like when Pangaea existed?
Most of the land was joined together.
True or False Wegener believed the continents had always been in the same places.
False
What was Wegener's main idea?
That continents move over time
Do continents move only a few miles or thousands of miles over millions of years?
Thousands of miles.
About how long ago did Pangaea exist?
About 300 million years ago.
What caused Pangaea to change over time?
The continents slowly moved apart.
Which continent looks like it could fit against Africa?
South America
What did Wegener notice about the coastlines of some continents?
They seemed to fit together
Why can't we easily see continents moving?
They move extremely slowly.
What eventually happened to Pangaea?
t broke apart.
Which two continents are often used as an example of continents that fit together?
south America and Africa.
What is another name for a giant supercontinent?
Pangaea
Why did some scientists not believe Wegener at first?
He couldn't explain how the continents moved
How is continental drift connected to plate tectonics?
Continents move because they are carried by moving tectonic plates.
What happened to the pieces of pangaea?
They slowly moved and became the continents we have today.
What did the continents eventually become after separating?
The continents in roughly the positions they are today.
if you found the same fossil on two continents separated by an ocean, what might that suggest?
the continents were once connected
What type of scientist was Wegener?
A meteorologist and geophysicist
Why was Wegener's theory eventually supported even though scientists rejected it at first?
Fossils and sonar reading of earths tectonic plates say otherwise.
If pangaea had never broken apart what would earth's continents look like?
Most of the major land would still be connected as one huge landmass.
Why does the shape of continents today look different from when pangaea existed?
The continents have moved over millions of years.
Why was Wegener's idea important even though scientists didn't accept it right away?
It helped lead scientists toward the modern understanding of how continents move.