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Unveiling Continental Drift: Evidence and Controversy in North America

Explore the theory of continental drift with evidence from North America in the year 2450. Create a hypothesis, organize evidence in a table, and delve into Alfred Wegener's Pangaea theory. Discover climatic evidence, fossil evidence, and landform fit supporting continental drift.

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Unveiling Continental Drift: Evidence and Controversy in North America

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  1. Continental Drift CH 4 Prentice Hall p.118-122

  2. Continent of North America • It is now the year 2450. • Look at your pieces of the map of North America. • Write a problem. • Write a hypothesis for your problem.

  3. Continent of North America • Create a table to organize pieces of evidence that support your hypothesis. (4 pieces minimum. • Hint: • Look at surface features. • Think about the things that you can’t see on a map, what would be on the actual surface that could serve as evidence?

  4. Alfred Wegener • A German scientist- proposed a super continent he called Pangaea “All Land” • Proposed his hypothesis of continental drift. • Wrote the Origins of the Continents & Oceans 1915. Layers of Earth Menu

  5. World Map/ CD Evidence

  6. Continental Drift • All continents were once together and have slowly drifted over time to their current locations. • Pieces of Evidence: • Climatic Evidence • Fossil • Evidence • Landforms • Fit of the Continents

  7. Fit of the Continents • The coast of S. America and Africa fit together like a puzzle. • Up to the 1900’s thought the continents remained fixed. CD Rift Evidence

  8. Landforms • Mountain features & other features • South African Mt. ranges line up with a mountain range in Argentina. • European coal fields line up with coal fields of North America. CD Rift Evidence

  9. Fossils • A trace of an ancient organism preserved in sedimentary rock. • Mesosaurus and Lystrosaurus- reptiles that could not swim across a salty ocean. • Found in places now separated by oceans which suggest that the continents were connected. CD Rift Evidence

  10. Fossils CD Rift Evidence • A trace of an ancient organism preserved in sedimentary rock. • Glossopteris- a tropical fernlike plant. • Found in cooler climates of today, suggest that the continents have since moved. • Seeds were too large to be carried by wind.

  11. Climate Climate • Fossils of tropical plants were found on the island of Spitsbergen, which is in the Arctic Ocean. • A harsh polar climate covered with ice. • 300 million years ago, the island had a warm and mild climate. • Wegener believed it was closer to the equator.

  12. Climate • Glacial Evidence found as deep scratches in rocks on South Africa. • The climate of S. Africa today is too mild. • Suggests that S. Africa was closer to the S. Pole.

  13. Climate CD Rift Evidence • Wegener believed that the climates changed because the position of these places changed. • The continent carries the fossil and rock evidence from where it formed and provide evidence for CD.

  14. Rejected? • Wegener could not provide a satisfactory explanation for the force that pushes or pulls the continents. • Geologists rejected his idea until the 1960’s CD Rift Evidence

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