Table of Contents
1. What Is The Continental Drift?
It is the motion of the Earth’s continents corresponding to each other. The hypothesis that continents ‘drift’ was introduced by Abraham Ortelius in 1596 and was completely prepared by Alfred Wegener in 1912. However, it was not until the development of the theory of plate tectonics in the 1960s, that enough geological explanation of that motion was available.
Alfred Wagener said that, almost 200 million years ago, the supercontinent Pangaea started to separate apart.
Alexander Du Toit, Professor of Geology at Johannesburg University and one of Wegener’s staunchest supporters put forward that Pangaea first split into two large continental landmasses, Laurasia in the northern hemisphere and Gondwanaland in the southern hemisphere.
Laurasia and Gondwanaland then continued to spilt apart into the different smaller continents that exist today.
2. Continental Drift Evidences
Researchers recognized the geographic fit of continents i.e. Africa and S. America, Atlantic was created by the split of Africa from S. America.
Proofs supporting the clue that the continents had drifted are:
a. Geographic fit of continents
b. Fossils
c. Mountains and
d. Glaciation
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