Name: Jazmine Zoie N.

Garcia 10 Faraday

“Earth’s Mechanism and Evidence of Plate Movements: An Overview”

Do we people that live on this planet, the Earth, know exactly how the continents moved
to where they are now? Earth mechanism and the evidence found can be the answer to that.
The movement inside of the Earth, the evidence that made people believe, and the theories that
were formulated by great discoverers. These are the pieces of information that make a solid
proof into why these continents are formed. Starting with how plate tectonics move.

The rising of less dense hot particles and the sinking of more dense hot particles due to
heat transfer to the asthenosphere is called Convection Current. According to Mantle
Convection Theory by Arthur Holmes, the density of the mantle gradually increased as it heated
up. The substance would sink as it cooled and display a conveyor-belt-like circular movement.
The plates sit right on top of the mantle or asthenosphere causing them to move along the
direction of the convection current. Now what are the evidences found that made us believe that
the continents were once connected?

Alfred Lothar Wegener proposed a theory called the Continental Drift Theory in 1912 that
claims the continents were once connected into a single supercontinent called Pangea. Much
evidence was proposed and fossil evidence was mainly one of them. The Mesosaurus,
Lystrosaurus and Glossopteris were few of the fossils that were discovered. it seems unlikely
that the Mesosaurus would have been able to swim across the Atlantic Ocean because it was a
coastal animal. This proves that the continents were once connected

According to Arnol Theroy, the mid-ocean ridge system, a group of undersea mountain
zones, is where oceanic crust originates and expands out laterally away from them. The magma
seeps to the ridge causing it to harden to form new oceanic seafloor. “Founding Father” Harry
harming Hess, oceanic crust forms in the mid-ocean ridge system, a collection of submerged
mountain zones, and spreads laterally away from them.

All of this evidence and theories are enough to make us believe that the continents were
once a supercontinent called Pangea. The process made us amused in what exactly happens
inside of the Earth that causes the plates to move. With this being said, let us all go back to the
first question that I asked for better understanding of the Earth.