CONTINENTAL DRIFT

REVIEW:
• Alfred Wegener thought that continents
drifted due to the tides formed by the
gravitational forces of the moon and sun.
 CONTINENTAL DRIFT THEORY
• Alfred Wegener thought
that continents drifted due
to the tides formed by the
gravitational forces of the
moon and sun.
CONTINENTAL DRIFT THEORY
• The idea in the 1600’s
that continents fit
together like pieces of a
jigsaw puzzle
• First articulated by
Wegener in 1912
CONTINENTAL DRIFT: PANGAEA
• A proposed single
supercontinent
• Which was separated
into the current
continents and moved
across Earth’s surface
CONTINENTAL DRIFT: PANGAEA
• Laurasia was the name
given to the northern
part of Pangaea; and
• Gondwanaland was
the name given to the
southern part.
CONTINENTAL DRIFT: PANGAEA
• In the 1960’s, the post-war boom in
oceanography generated a lot of new area
about the ocean floor.
▫ It was characterized by deep depressions
called trenches and a network of ridges that
encircled the globe.
CONTINENTAL DRIFT: PANGAEA
• In the 1960’s, the post-war boom in
oceanography generated a lot of new area
about the ocean floor.
▫ These topographic data, together with heat
flow measurements, led to the emergence to
the Seafloor Spreading Hypothesis
CONTINENTAL DRIFT: PANGAEA
CONTINENTAL DRIFT EVIDENCES
1. 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.
CONTINENTAL DRIFT EVIDENCES
1. The fit of the continents
▫ The oceanic data later on revealed that a much
better approach was to fit them together along
the continental slope
▫ Sir Edward Bullard (an English Geophysicist, in
1965) along with his associates demonstrated
that the best fit occurs at depth of 2000 meters
CONTINENTAL DRIFT EVIDENCES
2. Similarity in geological units and structure
▫ This was considered as an evidence as
Wegener discovered that rocks on both
sides of the Atlantic Ocean were identical in
terms of type and age.
CONTINENTAL DRIFT EVIDENCES
CONTINENTAL DRIFT EVIDENCES
3. Fossil Match
▫ Similar fossils of extinct plants and animals
in rocks of the same age were found on
different continents, which are now
separated by large bodies of water.
▫ Wegener argued that the organisms
couldn’t have physically crossed the oceans
CONTINENTAL DRIFT EVIDENCES
3. Fossil Match
▫ Specific organisms:
 Glossopteris flora- ‘seed fern’ that grew only
in subpolar regions; distributed over AUS,
AF, IN, and SA (later discovered in
Antarctica); the seeds were too large to be
blown away by wind to different continents
CONTINENTAL DRIFT EVIDENCES
3. Fossil Match
▫ Specific organisms:
 Mesosaurus-a freshwater, land-based reptile
whose fossils were found only in black shales
about 260M years of age in SAfrica and BR.
CONTINENTAL DRIFT EVIDENCES
3. Fossil Match
▫ Specific organisms:
 Lystrosaurus and Cynognathus-land reptiles
whose fossils were found across SA, AF, IN,
and AN
CONTINENTAL DRIFT EVIDENCES
4. Glacial and Paleoclimate evidence
▫ Wegener analyzed tills of ancient times and
found out that glaciers of the same period
(late Paleozoic age, around 300M years ago)
are located in AUS, SA, AF, IN and AN
▫ Glaciation only occurred in Gondwanaland
CONTINENTAL DRIFT EVIDENCES
4. Glacial and Paleoclimate evidence
CONTINENTAL DRIFT EVIDENCES
5. Paleomagnetism and polar wandering
▫ This group of evidence emerged in the
1950’s
▫ Paleomagnetism-the residual magnetism
in ancient rocks showing direction and
intensity of Earth’s magnetic field at the
time of the rock’s formation
CONTINENTAL DRIFT EVIDENCES
5. Paleomagnetism and polar wandering
▫ Some minerals are strongly magnetic (i.e.
magnetite), and they start to align with the
surrounding magnetic field
▫ Magnetism of geologically recent rocks is
generally consistent with the Earth’s
current magnetic field
CONTINENTAL DRIFT EVIDENCES
5. Paleomagnetism and polar wandering
How Earth will look in 250 Million Years?