Who is credited with developing the continental drift hypothesis

Mountain ranges with the same rock types, structures, and ages are now on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Wegener concluded that they formed as a single mountain range that was separated as the continents drifted.

Ancient fossils of the same species of extinct plants and animals are found in rocks of the same age but are on continents that are now widely separated. Wegener proposed that the organisms had lived side by side, but that the lands had moved apart after they were dead and fossilized.

He suggested that the organisms would not have been able to travel across the oceans. For example, the fossils of the seed fern Glossopteris were too heavy to be carried so far by wind. The reptile Mesosaurus could only swim in fresh water. Cynognathus and Lystrosaurus were land reptiles and were unable to swim. Grooves and rock deposits left by ancient glaciers are found today on different continents very close to the equator.

Today glaciers only form on land and nearer the poles. Wegener thought that the glaciers were centered over the southern land mass close to the South Pole and the continents moved to their present positions later on. Coral reefs and coal-forming swamps are found in tropical and subtropical environments, but ancient coal seams and coral reefs are found in locations where it is much too cold today.

Did this help or What is the theory of continental drift? Who was Alfred Wegener? What causes continental drift? What were the problems with the theory of continental drift?

It shows that it was warmer at the equator in the past. What is the force that moves the continents? Conveyor belts. What are the two types of crust? What is Pangaea? The geological theory that states that pieces of Earth's lithosphere are in constant, slow motion is the theory of. Who is the scientist who proposed Continental Drift Theory?

What causes the continents to move? All of the choices. What are the remains of organism noticed by Wegener that are found the same in two continents? Dinosaurs and reptiles. What is a theory? An idea based on hypothesis and problems observed using five senses.

A belief, policy, or procedure that is not proposed or followed as the basis of action. The Floors of the Oceans I. The North Atlantic. Geological Society of America Special Papers 65 , 1— The Rift in the Ocean Floor. Dietz, R. Continent and ocean basin evolution by spreading of the seafloor.

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Magnetic anomalies over oceanic ridges. Frankel, H. Irving, E. Palaeomagnetic and palaeoclimatological aspects of polar wandering. Coats, R. Magma type and crustal structure in the Aleutian Arc. Wadati, K. On the activity of deep-focus earthquakes in the Japan Islands and neighbourhoods.