EVIDENCES

SUPPORTING
PLATE
MOVEMENTS LESSON
1. Familiarize the characteristics of plates
2. Enumerate the evidences supporting the movement of plates
3. Describe each evidence of plate movements based on supporting
studies and findings
4. Identify the different plate tectonic theories and its proponent
5. Explain how these theories support the movement of plates
PLATE
TECTONICS
Tectonic plates have the following characteristics which explain why the surface of
the Earth is moving and why continents and ocean basins always undergo
transformations.

1. One plate can carry both continental and oceanic crusts. The
average thickness of the lithosphere covered by a continent is 125km.
The average thickness of the lithosphere by the oceanic crust is 75km.
PLATE
TECTONICS
Tectonic plates have the following characteristics which explain why the surface of
the Earth is moving and why continents and ocean basins always undergo
transformations.

2. A plate floats on the asthenosphere and slides over it. It is like a

block of ice that floats on a lake; it may bend a little or may slightly move
up and down. Each plate moves as a large solid rock.
PLATE
TECTONICS
Tectonic plates have the following characteristics which explain why the surface of
the Earth is moving and why continents and ocean basins always undergo
transformations.

3. Tectonic plates move at a very slow rate. Since continents and

oceans make up the uppermost part of the lithosphere, both the continents
and oceanic crusts move across the Earth simultaneously with the plates.
PLATE
TECTONICS
Tectonic plates have the following characteristics which explain why the surface of
the Earth is moving and why continents and ocean basins always undergo
transformations.

Most tectonic activities take place at the boundaries. The movement of

tectonic plates is made possible by heat from the upper mantle. Heat
makes the rocks of the lithosphere more elastic.
EARTH’S SURFACE

The different surface features of the Earth resulted from different tectonic activities
caused by the movement of the plates. What pieces of evidence were used to substantiate
the claim?
CONTINENTAL
FIT The eastern shorelines of South
America and the western
shorelines of Africa seem to fit
together.

This evidence shows that there

seems to be a close fit like that of a
jigsaw puzzle between the
coastlines of continents on opposite
sides of Atlantic Ocean.
 The figure below shows the evolution of
the supercontinent Pangaea to the present-
day distribution of continents. Can you say
that continents are drifting?

PERMIAN TRIASSIC
250 million years ago 200 million years ago

PRESENT
DAY

JURASSIC CRETACIOUS
145 million years ago 65 million years ago
FOSSIL
REMAINS Wegener proposed that these
organisms lived, died, and
were fossilized together in the
past.

Fossil remains of extinct plants and

animals are found on rocks that are of
the same age and these rocks are
widely distributed in continents like
South America, Africa, India,Australia
and Antarctica, that are very far from
each other.
FOSSIL
These fossil remains are now found in
REMAINS different continents because of the
movements of landmasses. It is
impossible for these organisms to swim
across the ocean.

When the continents of the southern

hemisphere re-assembled into a single
land mass, the distribution of the
fossils of the four organisms forms
similar and continuous patterns of
dispersion across continental
boundaries.
FOSSIL
REMAINS
MESOSAURUS

The fossils of Mesosaurus, a freshwater crocodile-like reptile, are found in Southern

Africa and Eastern South America. It would have been impossible for Mesosaurus to
swim between continents. This suggests that South America and Africa were joined
together in the past.
FOSSIL
REMAINS
CYNOGNATHUS

The now extinct Cynognathus was a mammal-

like reptile. Roaming the terrains during the
Triassic period (250 to 240 million years ago),
the Cynognathus was as large as a modern
wolf. Its fossils are found only in South Africa
and South America. As a dominant land
species, the Cynognathus would not have
been capable of migrating across the Atlantic.
FOSSIL
REMAINS
LYSTROSAURUS,

The Lystrosaurus, which translates to "shovel

reptile/' is thought to have been a herbivore
with a stout built like a pig. Lysirosaurus fossils
are only found In Antarctica, India, and South
Africa. Simitar to the land-dwelling
Cynognathus, the Lystrosaurus would not
have had the swimming capability to traverse
any ocean.
FOSSIL
REMAINS
GLOSSOPTERIS

Possibly the most important fossil evidence found in

the plant, Glossopteris. The Glossopteris fossil is found
in Australia, Antarctica, India, South Africa, and South
America—all the southern continents. Glossopteris
seed is known to be large and bulky and possibly could
not have drifted or flown across the oceans to a
separate continent- Therefore, the continents must
have been joined at least one point in time in order to
maintain the Glossopteris'
FOSSIL
REMAINS
GLACIAL Impressions on rock layers that
EVIDENCE revealed the direction of flow of
glaciers are found in South
A America, South Africa, India, and
Southern Australia.

Glacial evidence, such as scrubs and

scratches which are created as glaciers slide
B along the surface are found in different
continents indicating that these glaciers
once covered a large continent.
CORAL REEFSAND COAL-FORMING
SWAMPS These pieces of fossil evidence indicate that
the North Hemisphere had a tropical
climate when the Southern Hemisphere was
covered with glaciers.

Coral reefs and coal-forming swamps found

in the tropical regions are now found in
places that are very cold. These animals
may have once lived in warm climates and
that their fossils and coals drifted to their
present location.
STRIPES OF MAGNETIC
MATERIAL
The stripes alternate between those with
magnetic materials oriented toward the
magnetic north, and those oriented in the
opposite direction.

Stripes of magnetic material on the seafloor

provide strong evidence of tectonic
movements. They show that the Earth’s
magnetic field has shifted. In other words,
north and south poles have changed
places many times in the past, covering
long intervals of time.
THEORIES
SUPPORTING
PLATE
LESSON
MOVEMENTS
QUARTER 1 | E A TH SC ENCE
CONTINENTAL DRIFT THEORY

In 1915, Alfred Wegener

published the continental
drift theory which states that
continents are moving.
According to this theory,
Earth was once made up of
on large continent.
 The supercontinent that Wegener is talking about, is
Pangaea.

The supercontinent began to break up about 225 to 200 million years

ago into smaller pieces that slowly drifted away and moved to their
present positions.
PANGAEA Comes from the Greek word “pan”, which
means “all” and “gaea”, which means
“Earth”. Pangaea thus means “All of Earth”
or “All Lands”.

Pangaea or Pangea was a supercontinent that

existed during the late Paleozoic and early
Mesozoic eras. The explanation for Pangaea's
formation ushered in the modern theory of
plate tectonics, which posits that the Earth's
outer shell is broken up into several plates that
slide over Earth's rocky shell, the mantle.
 PERMIAN TRIASSIC
250 million years ago 200 million years ago

PRESENT
DAY
According to the continental drift theory, the
supercontinent fragmented into the
continents as we know them today.

CRETACIOUS
JURASSIC
65 million years ago
145 million years ago
CONTINENTAL DRIFT
THEORY
Wegener’s theory was generally rejected for the following reasons:

1. Wegener was a
meteorologist, and not a
geologist. The scientific
community considered him an
outsider who proposes a major
concept in geology.

Alfred Wegener
1880-1930
CONTINENTAL DRIFT
THEORY
Wegener’s theory was generally rejected for the following reasons:

2. He could not
explain the mechanism
of continental drift.

Alfred Wegener
1880-1930
CONTINENTAL DRIFT
THEORY
Wegener’s theory was generally rejected for the following reasons:

3. He explained fossil similarities

based on land bridges in the past,
which allowed plant and animals to
migrate across one continent to
another. This was considered
unfounded because the land
bridges had eroded or sunk into
the seas.
Alfred Wegener
1880-1930
CONTINENTAL DRIFT
THEORY
Wegener’s theory was generally rejected for the following reasons:

4. Wegener thought that the

continents were moving at a
very rapid rate. Scientists
ascertained that Wegener’s
calculations were inaccurate.
Alfred Wegener
1880-1930
CONTINENTAL DRIFT
THEORY
German scientist Alfred Wegener proposed
evidence to back up his continental drift theory,
but his claims were initially rejected.

About a century after his death,

improvements in science and
technology validated his claims.
Alfred Wegener
1880-1930
 Comparison Between Wegener’s and Modern Science’s Ideas on Tectonic Plates

Wegener’s Ideas Science Today

The eastern coastline of South

America and the western The shapes of several continents seem to fit into each
coastline of Africa seem to fit other.
snugly into each other.

Rock types and fossils in South America and South

Similar fossils of plants and
Africa are very similar in terms of their sequence and
animals were found on the
age up to about 200 million years ago, after which
eastern coast of South America
their sequences diverges as he continents parted.
and on the western coast of some
Animals in South America share common
parts in the south of the African
ancestors with those in Africa.
continent.
 Comparison Between Wegener’s and Modern Science’s Ideas on Tectonic Plates
Wegener’s Ideas
There are other cases of similar
fossil sequences from
landmasses on the eastern and
western coasts of other oceans.
The sequences of rock layers
on opposite sides of oceans
match each other.
Fossils of tropical plants and
animals were also found in the
Arctic and Antarctic polar
regions.
Science Today
Mountain ranges of different continents are made of
the same rocks, were formed in the same sequence,
and are of the same age; but are now far apart from
each other.
Geological studies of areas with glaciers in
eastern South America match those in
South and West Africa.
Coal from hot swampy forests and coral limestone
from warm shallow seas can be found in Northern
countries like Scotland and even in Antarctica near
the South Pole.
SEAFLOOR SPREADING
THEORY
In 1920, the discovery of the long chain of
mountains, also called mid-ocean ridges, on
the ocean floor revived the continental drift
theory.

Harry Hess, An American geologist, proposed

that hot and less dense material from the
mantle rises to the surface along the mid-
ocean ridge. This material flows sideways
pushing the seafloor away from the ridge in
both directions.
Harry Hess
1906-1969
SEAFLOOR SPREADING
THEORY

As the seafloor spreads, more magma is forced upward, which thickens the oceanic
crust. The lava cools and forms a new seafloor.
SEAFLOOR SPREADING
THEORY This denser and cooler seafloor sinks
and helps in the formation
of the ridge.

As the seafloor moves away from

the mid-ocean ridges, it cools,
contracts and becomes denser.
Because magma continuously flows
to the surface of the oceanic crust, it
becomes part of the crust and the
ocean floor widens.