ALFRED WEGENER

CONTINENTAL DRIFT
THEORY
CONTINENTAL DRIFT THEORY
- proposed by Alfred Wegener a German
meteorologist

- according to Wegener about 200 million years

ago, the continents were once one large landmass
called PANGAEA which means “all earth”.
CONTINENTAL DRIFT THEORY

PANGAEA

LAURASIA GONDWANALAND
Evidences:
THE CONTINENTAL JIGSAW PUZZLE
-shapes of the continents matters
- edge of each continent surprisingly matches the edge
of another:
1.South America and Africa
2. India, Antarctica and Australia
3. Eurasia and North America
EVIDENCE FROM FOSSILS
Fossils- preserved remains or traces of organisms
(plants and animals) from the remote past
•The European Flora
•Cynognathus reptile
•Lystrosaurus reptile
•Glossopteris plant
•Mesosaurus reptile
Glossopteris was the most
common genus of an
extinct family of seed-
bearing, or flowerless,
plants collectively called
Glossopteridales.
Cynognathus - was a
mammal-like reptile which
lived approximately 245
million to 230 million years
ago during the Middle
Triassic Period.
Mesosaurus meaning
middle lizard, is the name
of a genus of extinct
aquatic animals that lived
in the southern
hemisphere during early
Permian time.
Lystrosaurus (pronounced
liss-tro-sore-us) means
'shovel lizard,' a reference
to what is believed to be its
burrowing habit.
EVIDENCE FROM ROCKS
-rock formations in Africa line up with that in South
America as if it was a long mountain range. The folded
cape mountains of South America and Africa line up
perfectly as if they were once a long mountain range
EVIDENCE FROM COAL DEPOSITS
Coal beds- formed from the compaction and
decomposition of swamp plants that lived million
years ago. These were discovered in South America,
Africa, Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and even
in Antarctica
-If there is a substantial quantity of coal in it,
thus, it only means that Antarctica must have
been positioned in a part of the Earth where it
once supported large quantities of life. This leads
to the idea that Antarctica once experienced
tropical climate, thus, it might have been closer
before to the equator