Name: Richie L.

Montalban 14167-GEOLOGY 101

BSCE-2

ACTIVITY #7
CONTINENTAL DRIFT

1. What evidence convinced Wegener and others that Continents must have moved
in the past and at one time formed a supercontinent?
- He used fossil evidence, such as that of tropical plants found on the Arctic Island
of Spitzbergen. He found large-scale geographic features that matched, like the
Appalachian Mountains in the United States and the Scottish Highlands, as well
as rock strata in South Africa that matched those in Brazil.

2. Plate Tectonic theory builds on the continental drift hypothesis and the theory of
sea floor spreading. As such, it is a unifying theory of geology. Explain why it is a
unifying theory.
- Plate tectonics is a unifying theory, which explains many features and processes
that we find on the Earth. It explains the locations of earthquakes and volcanoes.
It explains mountain building and rock deformation on the continents, and even, in
fact, describes the shapes and locations of the continents. It also helps us
understand the youthful age of the sea floor and the unusual distribution of fossil
and living organisms on the continents. The generation of mountains, deep-sea
trenches, volcanic chains, island arcs, and rift valleys can be explained by plate
motions. Plate tectonic theory even unites the ideas of sea-floor spreading,
subduction, and mantle convection.