Continental Drift
The German scientist who proposed the hypothesis in 1912 that all continents were once fused together
Who is Alfred Wegener?
Fossils of this freshwater reptile were found in both South America and Africa, suggesting the landmasses were once joined
What is Mesosaurus?
Long, zipper-like undersea mountain chains where new ocean floor is continuously formed
What are mid-ocean ridges?
Deep undersea valleys where sections of the ocean floor sink back into Earth's interior
An evidence-based idea that serves as a starting point and can be tested by investigations
What is a hypothesis?
The name of the ancient supercontinent that Wegener inferred broke apart into the continents we have today
What is Pangaea?
Fossils of this 250-million-year-old fernlike plant were discovered across five separate continents
What is Glossopteris?
The undersea mountain chain that runs down the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, matching continental coastlines
What is the Mid-Atlantic Ridge?
The geological process where a dense slab of oceanic crust sinks beneath an adjacent plate into the mantle
What is subduction?
What science produces after an idea has been thoroughly tested, revised, and supported by broad evidence
What is a scientific theory?
The title of the book published by Alfred Wegener in 1915 detailing his evidence
What is The Origin of Continents and Oceans?
These energy-rich rock deposits formed from ancient warm-climate plants are now found in polar regions that no longer support tropical life
What are coal beds / coal deposits?
The total approximate distance that mid-ocean ridges extend throughout Earth's oceans
What is 70,000 kilometers?
As warm oceanic rock moves away from a mid-ocean ridge and cools down, this physical property increases, causing it to sink
What is density?
The general term for traces of ancient organisms preserved in rock
What are fossils?
These two continents have shapes that look like they fit together perfectly like jigsaw puzzle pieces
What are South America and Africa?
This island in the frigid Arctic Ocean contains tropical plant fossils, proving it was once located near the Equator
What is Spitsbergen?
Uniquely shaped rocks that form only when molten material erupts into cold ocean water and hardens rapidly
What are pillow rocks?
When subducted oceanic crust melts in the mantle, it can erupt onto overriding crust to form these land features
What are volcanoes (or volcanic island chains)?
The branch of science focused on studying Earth's oceans that advanced mid-20th-century crust mapping
What is oceanography?
The major flaw in Wegener’s hypothesis that caused many scientists to initially reject it
What is the lack of an explanation for how the supercontinent broke up and moved?
Besides coal and fossils, these geological land features line up across ocean boundaries as if they were formed in the same location
What are mountain ranges (folded mountains)?
The process where molten rock erupts from a crack in the crust and pushes older rock outward like a conveyor belt
Relative to rocks right next to a mid-ocean ridge, rocks found far away near ocean trenches are this in age
What is older?
The hot layer of Earth into which dense oceanic crust sinks during subduction
What is the mantle?