Continental Drift Theory

How the concept of continental drift came about?

a. The idea that continents fit together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle has been
around since the 1600s, although little significance was given to it.
b. The continental drift hypothesis was first articulated by Alfred Wegener, a
German meteorologist, in 1912. He proposed that a single supercontinent,
Pangaea, separated into the current continents and moved across Earth’s
surface to their present locations. He published his work through a book
entitled “The Origin of Continents and Oceans” in 1915.
c. Until the 1950s-60s, it was still widely held that that continents and ocean
basins had fixed geographic positions. As such, scientists were reluctant to
believe that continents could drift. What was the driving mechanism?
d. In the 1960s, the post-war boom in oceanography generated a lot of new
data about the ocean floor. It turned out that the ocean floor was not as
flat and featureless as they had originally thought. The ocean floor was
characterized by deep depressions called trenches and a network of ridges
that encircled the globe. These topographic data, together with heat flow
measurements, led to the emergence of the Seafloor Spreading Hypothesis
which revived interest in Alfred Wegener’s idea of drifting continents.
Evidences supporting continental drift
a. The fit of the continents - Opponents of Wegener’s idea disputed his
continental fit evidence, arguing that the fit of the continents’ margins was
crude, and that shorelines were continuously being modified by wave
erosion and depositional processes.
b. Similarity in geologic units and structures - Wegener discovered that
geologic structures (mountain ranges), as well as ages and rock types on
opposite sides of the Atlantic Oceans, were identical.
c. Fossil match - Similar fossils of extinct plants and animals of the same age
were found on different continents which are now separated by oceans.
Wegener argued that these organisms physically could not have crossed
the oceans because organisms adapt to specific types of environment and
their dispersal can be limited by biogeographic boundaries (e.g. oceans,
mountain ranges, etc.)
d. Glacial and paleoclimate evidence - A glacier is a slowly moving mass or
river of ice formed from the accumulation and compaction of snow on high
mountains or in polar areas.
Questions to Answer:
1. Why do the continents fit roughly along their coastlines?
2. Define the concept of continental drift.
3. What made early scientists reject Wegener’s continental drift idea?
4. List the lines of evidence that support continental drift.
5. True or False. Mountain ranges on the opposite sides of the Atlantic were used by
Wegener to support his continental drift idea.
6. What evidence can prove that two mountain ranges separated by ocean were part of a
single mountain range and that these were once joined together?
 Deformation of the Crust

Different Features of the Ocean Floor

1. Continental Margin

2. Abyssal Plains and Abyssal Hills

3. Mid-Ocean Ridges

4. Deep Ocean Trenches

 5. Seamounts and Volcanic Islands

Example of Volcanic Island

 THEORY OF SEAFLOOR SPREADING
In 1960, Harry Hess advanced the theory of seafloor
spreading. Hess proposed that seafloor separates at mid-
ocean ridges where new crust forms by upwelling
magma. Newly formed oceanic crust moves laterally
away from the ridge with the motion like that of a
conveyor belt.

THEORY OF PLATE TECTONICS

The Earth’s outermost rigid layer (lithosphere)is broken
into discrete plates each moving more or less as a unit.
Divergent Plate Boundaries Examples
Convergent Plate Boundaries Example
Transform Plate Boundaries Example

Age
of the Earth
a. The Earth has a very long history — 4.6 billions of years of history.

b. The age of the Earth is based from the radioactive isotopic dating of
meteorites.

Rocks, Fossils and the Geologic Time Scale

The Geologic Time Scale – the time line of the History of the Earth, is
based from the rock record.
EVOLUTION OF EARTH’S HISTORY

a. Fossils are an essential part of subdividing the Geologic Time.

b. Biostratigraphy - a sub-discipline of stratigraphy which deals with the
use of fossils in correlation and establishing the relative ages of rocks.
c. Index Fossils - are marker fossils used to define periods of Geologic
Time. Ideally, indexfossils are distinctive (can be easily identified and
distinguished from other fossils, widespread (distribution is not
confined to a few locality), and have limited geologic time range.
d. Ultimately, the Geologic Time Scale was assigned numerical dates
(absolute dating) through the radiometric dating of rocks.

The Precambrian or Cryptozoic Era (4.6 Ga – 540 Ma)

a. Represents 80% of Earth’s history
b. Eon of “Hidden Life” – fossil record obscure. Ask the students why
there is very little record of life during the Precambrain
Hadean Eon (4.56 -3.8 Ga)
a. From “Haedes” Greek god of the underworld
b. Chaotic time, lots of meteorite bombardment
c. Atmosphere reducing (Methane, Ammonia, CO2)
d. Start of the hydrologic cycle and the formation of the world oceans
e. Life emerged in this “hostile” environment
Archean Eon (3.8 – 2.5 Ga)
a. Anaerobic (lack of oxygen)
b. No Ozone
c. Photosynthetic prokaryotes (blue green algae) emerged and started
releasing oxygen to the atmosphere
d. Life forms still limited to single celled organisms without a nucleus
(prokaryotes) until 2.7 Ga when Eukaryotes emerged.
Proterozoic Eon (2.5 Ga to 540 Ma)
a. Oxygen level reaches ~ 3% of the atmosphere
b. Rise of multicellular organisms represented by the Vendian Fauna
c. Formation of the protective Ozone Layer
Phanerozoic Eon (540 Ma to Present)
a. Eon of “visible life”
b. Diversification of life. Many life forms represented in the fossil record
c. Life forms with preservable hard parts
Paleozoic Era (540 – 245)
a. Age of “Ancient Life”
b. Rapid diversification of life as represented by the Cambrian Fauna
(Cambrian Explosion)
c. Dominance of marine invertebrates
d. Plants colonize land by 480 ma
e. Animals colonize land by 450 ma
f. Oxygen level in the Atmosphere approaches present day
concentration
g. Massive Extinction at the end (End of Permian Extinction)

Mesozoic Era (245 – 65 Ma)

a. Age of Reptiles
b. Dominance of reptiles and dinosaurs
c. Pangea starts to break-apart by 200 ma
d. Early mammals (220 mya)!
e. First birds (150 ma)!
f. First flowering plants (130 ma)!
g. Mass Extinction at the end of the Cretaceous (65 ma)
Cenozoic Era (65 ma to present)
a. Age of Mammals
b. Radiation of modern birds
c. Early Primates 60 ma!
d. Continents near present-day positions (40 ma)!
e. First hominids (5.2 ma)
f. Modern humans (0.2 ma)
g. Global ice ages begin (2 Ma)!

Questions:
1. Possible Causes of Mass Extinction Events
2. How mankind is driving the next mass extinction event