GeoTech - Continental Drift

Continental drift was a groundbreaking hypothesis that explained how continents move over the Earth's surface. Alfred Wegener, a geophysicist and meteorologist, proposed the hypothesis in 1912, but it was dismissed by conventional science at the time..8

The rocks developed side by side, according to Wegener, and the land has subsequently drifted apart. Mountain ranges with the identical rock kinds, structures, and ages are now on opposing sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Mountain ranges in eastern Greenland, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Norway, for example, are similar to the Appalachians in the eastern United States and Canada. Wegener came to the conclusion that they originated as a one mountain range that was split apart as the continents moved apart.

On both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, similar rocks of the same age and type can be obtained. According to Wegener, the rocks formed side by side and the earth has since shifted apart.

Grooves and geological deposits such as rocks left by prehistoric glaciers are present on numerous continents extremely close to the equator. Glaciers can only form on land closer to the poles. Wegener believed that the glaciers were focused from the southern continent around the South Pole, and that the continents shifted to their current positions afterwards.

Tropical conditions are home to coral reefs and coal-forming wetlands, but ancient coral seams and coral reefs can be located in places that are far too cold now. Wegener suggested that these organisms lived in warm temperature zones and that the fossils subsequently moved to new regions on the continents.

Former plant and animal fossils from the same kind have been discovered in rocks with the same age, but on landmass that are currently divided by vast oceans . Wegener hypothesized that the species had coexisted before dying and being fossilized, but that the continents had drifted apart after they died. He argued that the animals wouldn't be capable of crossing oceans. An example of this would be the Mesosaurus which was a reptile that could swim but only swim in freshwater.

According to National Geographic, plates sliding together generated the world's highest mountains, the Himalayans, and the mountains are continually expanding as a result of the plates pressing together. Wegener never lived to see his idea acquire greater support, despite his tremendous continental drift data.

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/continental-drift/

https://socratic.org/questions/how-does-seafloor-spreading-cause-continents-to-drift

https://www.britannica.com/science/continental-drift-geology

https://www.livescience.com/37529-continental-drift.html

https://www3.unisa.ac.za/6ytav/archive.php?page=6-pieces-of-evidence-for-continental-drift

https://geo.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Geology/Book%3A_Fundamentals_of_Geology_(Schulte)/05%3A_Plate_Tectonics/5.05%3A_Continental_Drift