Republic of the Philippines

DON HONORIO VENTURA STATE UNIVERSITY

Villa de Bacolor, Pampanga

LABORATORY HIGH SCHOOL

SCIENCE 10
Continental Drift Activity Packet

Name: ___Maria Paula M.Evangelista______________________________

Rating: ______
Grade 10: Section: _10-Pascal______________________

Instructions:
You will be placing together a puzzle of the supercontinent Pangea based on fossil and rock
evidence on the present day continents.

1. On the puzzle pieces’ handout, assign a color to each type of fossil or mountain belt in
the legend and color the areas on the landmasses according to the legend.

2. Use scissors to cut along the borders of the continents. These are the approximate
shape of the continents after Pangea broke up.

3. Place the continents on a piece of paper and move them around using the fossil and
mountain chain evidence to match the continents together in the position they were in
when they were part of Pangea. The pieces may not fit together exactly!

4. When you have assembled Pangea based on the fossil and rock locations, glue the
continents onto your paper in the shape of the supercontinent. Glue the legend to your
puzzle.

5. Document your step by step procedure.

Questions:
1. What is the idea of Continental Drift?
The idea of Continental Drift is a put by Alfred Wegener.It is a theory that the
Earth’s continents were once joined together called Pangea but have moved away
from each other for almost a million years ago.

2. Which 2 continents have the most obvious fit of the coastlines?

 The two continents that have a most obvious fit of the coastlines are South
America and Africa.

3. How were the fossil symbols and mountain belts helpful in deciding where to move
the continents?

It is very helpful and made it easier because fossil symbols and mountain belts is one
of the evidence of continental drift so if they are connected once they will leave traces like
Cynognathus that crosses between South America and Africa.

4. Why don’t the present shapes of the continents fit perfectly into a supercontinent?

The present shapes of the continents don't fit perfectly to form a

supercontinent because it is caused by Tectonic plates movement and the rise and
fall of water levels so it is the reason why they do not fit perfectly together to form
a supercontinent(Pangea).

5. Which fossil occurs on the most landmasses? What does this suggest
about when these particular continents broke up?

The Lystrosaurus reptile fossils occur on landmasses the

most.This Lystrosaurus reptile was an important discovery of
Alfred Wegener because these Lystrosaurus reptiles lived in
South America,India and Antarctica so this concludes that
these continents were once together.
 FOSSIL AND MOUNTAIN CHAIN EVIDENCE
DIRECTIONS: 1) Label each continent with its name.
PLACE YOUR PUZZLE PIECE HERE:
1.Firsly;I identify the following continents by its shape and sizes and its fossil symbols and
mountain belts.
2.Secondly;I cut out the continents then I match the following fossil symbols and mountain
belts and paste it on a short bond paper.
3.Third;Using crayons, I color the fossil symbols and mountain belts differently so that it will
represent its name and color then design it the best way I can.
 Analyzing Evidence: Continental Drift
Evidence or Not?
On the Analyzing Evidence worksheet, read the statement in each box and check whether the
statement is evidence or not in the left columns, and whether is supports the movements of the
continents in the right columns.

Does it support
the idea that
Is it the continents
evidence? STATEMENTS
have moved?

YES NO Yes No
1. 1858: Geologist Eduard Seuss points out that fossils of the Glossopteris plant
are found in southern Africa, South America, Australia, Antarctica, and India.
2. Wegener examines the location of tiny rocks and the direction of grooves
formed by large glaciers scraping across southern areas of Africa, South
America, Australia, Antarctica, and India. He concludes that if all these places
were fitted together, they would form a continuous ice sheet expanding
outward in all directions.
3. Frankfurt News, January 6, 1 912: Announcement that German scientist
Alfred Wegener will speak at the Geological Association meeting.
4. Popular Geology magazine, March 12, 1912: “Continents are so large they
must always have been where they are.”
5. Wegener observes that a South American mountain range in Argentina lines
up with an ancient African mountain range in South Africa when the two
continents are placed together. He writes: “It is just as if we were to refit the
torn pieces of a newspaper by matching their edges and then check whether
the lines of print ran smoothly across. If they do, there is nothing left but to
conclude that the pieces were in fact joined in this way.”
6. 1927: Geologist Alexander du Toit observes rock layers on the western coast
of Africa in the following sequence: basalt rock, shale containing fossil
reptiles, coal layers containing Glossopteris fossils, rocks containing
Mesosaurus fossils, and shale. He discovers an almost identical sequence of
rock layers on the eastern coast of South America.
7. 1944: Geologist Baily Willis calls Wegener’s theory a fairy tale. He argues that
the theory should be ignored.
8. 1965: Geologist Edward Bullard uses computers to match coasts of South
America and Africa. They match extremely well at an ocean depth of 1,000
meters.
9. 1981980s: Satellites and lasers are used to measure the movement of continents.
They continue to move at an average of about 2 cm (0.8 in) per year.
10. Fossils of Megascolecina earthworms are found in South America, Africa,
India, and Australia, as well as the islands of Madagascar and New Guinea.

Rubric for Creative Projects in Science

CATEGORY Exceptional (5) Satisfactory (4) Unsatisfactory Poor (2)
(3)
Content Subject knowledge is Includes essential Includes essential Content is
excellent. knowledge about the information about minimal OR there
topic. Subject the are several factual
knowledge appears topic but there are errors.
to be good. 1-2 factual errors.

Creativity Exceptionally clever Thoughtfully and A few original Shows little

and uniquely presented; touches enhance creativity,
unique in clever at times in the project to show originality and/or
showing deep showing some effort in
understanding understanding of the understanding of understanding the
material the material.
material.
Polish Project is neat, Project is neat, Project is either Project is messy,
organized, and easy to organized, and easy messy, disorganized, and
understand. to understand. disorganized, or hard to
Project is complete Project is complete hard to understand. understand.
with strong evidence with some evidence Project is Project is
of effort. either incomplete incomplete and
of effort.
or does not show does not show
strong evidence of effort.
effort.