CONTINENTAL DRIFT THEORY

AND SEAFLOOR SPREADING

 CONTINENTAL DRIFT
VOCABULARY
PLATE TECTONICS - THE THEORY OF MOVING
LITOSPHERIC PLATES

CONTINENTAL DRIFT - THEORY DEVELOPED BY

ALFRED WEGENER THAT STATES THAT EARTH'S
PLATES WERE ONCE ONE HUGE LANDMASS AND
OVER YEARS THEY WERE DRIFTED APART
 CONTINENTAL DRIFT
VOCABULARY
PANGEA - NAME OF THE EARTH'S ONE HUGE
LANDMASS 200 MILLION YEARS AGO. IT MEANS "ALL
THE EARTH"

ALFRED WEGENER - A GERMAN SCIENTIST WHO

PROPOSED THE CONTINENTAL DRIFT THEORY

SUPERCONTINENT - HUGE CONTINENTS COMPOSED OF

SMALLER CONTINENTS
JIGSAW PUZZLE
WHAT DO YOU NOTICE ABOUT
THESE PICTURES?
EASTERN COAST OF SOUTH AMERICA
AND WESTERN COAST OF AFRICA
ALFRED WEGENER

- GERMAN SCIENTIST
- PROPOSED "CONTINENTAL
DRIFT THEORY" IN 1912
-METEOROLOGIST AND
ASTRONOMER
EVIDENCES
EVIDENCES

EVIDENCE 1
EVIDENCE 1

THE APPARENT FIT OF THE

CONTINENTS
COASTLINES OF CONTINENTS
APPEAR TO FIT TOGETHER
LIKE PIECES OF A PUZZLE.
EXAMPLE : SOUTH AMERICA &
AFRICA
EVIDENCES

EVIDENCE 2
EVIDENCE 2

FOSSIL CORRELATION
IDENTICAL FOSSILS HAVE
BEEN FOUND IN THE ROCKS
ON EITHER SIDES OF THE
OCEAN
EXAMPLE: FOSSILS OF
MESOSAURUS FOUND ON
SOUTH AMERICA AND AFRICA
EVIDENCES

EVIDENCE 3
EVIDENCE 3

ROCKS AND MOUNTAIN

CORRELATION
IDENTICAL ROCKS AND MOUNTAIN
STRUCTURES HAVE BEEN FOUND ON
EITHER SIDE OF THE OCEAN
EXAMPLE: SAME AGE AND TYPE OF
ROCKS ON NORTHEASTERN U.S WERE
FOUND IN UK AND NORTHERN
SCANDINAVIA
EVIDENCES

EVIDENCE 4
EVIDENCE 4

PALEOCLIMATE DATA

COAL HAS BEEN FOUND IN COLD

REGIONS AND GLACIAL
EVIDENCES HAS BEEN FOUND IN
WARM REGIONS.
THE ORIGIN OF
CONTINENTS
AND THE
OCEANS
 WEGENER COULD NOT
EXPLAIN WHAT FORCE WAS
DRIVING THE MOTION OF THE
CONTINENTS
 INFO

- IN NOVEMBER OF 1930, WHILE

ON A RESEARCH EXPIDITION ON
ICE SHEETS OF GREENLAND,
WEGENER FROZE TO HIS DEATH.
HIS BODY WAS FOUND IN THE ICE
MONTHS LATER.
 SEAFLOOR SPREADING
VOCABULARY
SEAFLOOR SPREADING THEORY- STATES THAT
OCEANIC CRUST FORMS ALONG THE MID-
OCEAN RIDGE SYSTEM & SPREADS OUT
LATERALLY AWAY FROM THEM

MID-OCEAN RIDGE- LANDFORM THAT IS

CREATED FROM A DIVERGENT BOUNDRY AND
FOUND IN THE OCEAN FLOOR
 SEAFLOOR SPREADING
VOCABULARY
SEAFLOOR SPREADING- GEOLOGIC
PROCESS IN WHICH TECTONIC PLATES-
LARGE SLABS OF THE EARTH'S
LITOSPHERE- SPLIT APART FROM EACH
OTHER
SEAFLOOR SPREADING
THEORY
SEAFLOOR SPREADING
THEORY
MID-OCEAN RIDGE

IS A LANDFORM THAT IS CREATED

FROM A DIVERGENT BOUNDRY AND
FOUND IN THE OCEAN FLOOR
PROPONENTS OF THIS
THEORY

HARRY HESS ROBERT DIETZ

PROPONENTS OF THIS
THEORY

THE SEAFLOOR SPREADING

THEORY WAS PROPOSED BY
HARRY HESS AND ROBERT DIETZ
IN 1960
SEAFLOOR SPREADING
THEORY
 SEAFLOOR SPREADING
THEORY
-Ocean floor moves like a conveyor belt carrying
continents with it.

-New ocean floor forms along cracks in the ocean crust as

molten material erupts from the mantle spreading out
and pushing older rocks to the sides of the crack. New
ocean floor is continually added by the process of
seafloor spreading.
EVIDENCES
SEAFLOOR SPREADING
THEORY
EVIDENCES

EVIDENCE 1
EVIDENCES

MAGNETIC PATTERNS

SCIENTISTS HAVE LEARNED THAT THE

SEAFLOOR IS MOVING THROUGH
MAGNETIC PATTERNS
EVIDENCES

EVIDENCE 2
EVIDENCES

AGE OF ROCKS

AS THE LITOSPHERE MOVES AWAY

FROM THE MID-OCEAN RIDGE, IT GETS
OLDER
THANK YOU !!