What was the evidence for continental drift?

The evidence for continental drift included the fit of the continents; the distribution of ancient fossils, rocks, and mountain ranges; and the locations of ancient climatic zones.

What is the evidence for plate tectonic theory?

There is variety of evidence that supports the claims that plate tectonics accounts for (1) the distribution of fossils on different continents, (2) the occurrence of earthquakes, and (3) continental and ocean floor features including mountains, volcanoes, faults, and trenches.

What do the continental plates consist of?

Continental crust is composed of granitic rocks which are made up of relatively lightweight minerals such as quartz and feldspar. By contrast, oceanic crust is composed of basaltic rocks, which are much denser and heavier.

Which one among the continental drift pieces of evidence mainly proves that the Cape Mountains?

Which one among the continental drift pieces of evidences mainly proves that the Cape Mountains of South America and Africa line up perfectly before? There’s equal amount of coal deposits in each continent and fossils. The evidence from the rock layers in this two continents exactly matched.

What is the difference between plate tectonics and continental drift?

The theory of continental drift suggests that all the land masses on earth were once part of one supercontinent. Plate tectonics is the ability to measure the movement of land masses.

What information can be derived about America having fossils of ancient plants and animals?

Some animals and plant are only known to us as fossils. By studying the fossil record we can tell how long life has existed on Earth, and how different plants and animals are related to each other. Often we can work out how and where they lived, and use this information to find out about ancient environments.

What discovery provided strong support for continental drift?

Increased knowledge about the configuration of the ocean floor and the subsequent formulation of the concepts of seafloor spreading and plate tectonics provided further support for continental drift.

How can you differentiate the evidences of continental drift theory?

Continental drift challenged the prevailing theories of uniform processes, and the geosyncline theory of mountain building. The evidence for Continental drift indicated that the Continents had separated at timeline that went against the proposed evolutionary timeline for the fossil record.

Are plate tectonics and continental drift the same?

The main difference between plate tectonics and continental drift is that plate tectonics describes the features and movement of Earth’s surface in the present and in the past whereas continental drift describes the drifting of Earth’s continents on the ocean bed.

What is the major difference between continental drift and plate tectonics quizlet?

What are the differences between Continental Drift and Plate Tectonics? Continental drift believes that the continents moved because the magnetism of the sea floor. Plate tectonics believes that the lithosphere & the asthenosphere of the continents caused them to move.

What information can be derived about Antarctica having fossils and of ancient plants and animals?

What information can be derived about Antarctica having fossils of ancient plants and animals? Antarctica drifted to the Southern hemisphere because of the melting of glaciers that traps the plants and animals. Antarctica has a very nice climate that caused these organisms to migrate and stay.

How does fossil evidence support the theory of continental drift?

One type of evidence that strongly supported the Theory of Continental Drift is the fossil record. Fossils of similar types of plants and animals in rocks of a similar age have been found on the shores of different continents, suggesting that the continents were once joined.

Plate tectonics explains why Earth’s continents are moving; the theory of continental drift did not provide an explanation. Therefore, the theory of plate tectonics is more complete. It has gained widespread acceptance among scientists.

How can we make predictions about plate tectonics?

“All we can do is make predictions of how plate motions will continue, what new things might happen, and where it will all end up.” Plate tectonics is the theory that Earth’s land masses are in constant motion. The realization that Earth’s land masses move was first proposed by Alfred Wegener, which he called continental drift.

How did Alfred Wegener and Dutoit prove continental drift?

Continental Drift Alfred Wegener, in the first three decades of this century, and DuToit in the 1920s and 1930s gathered evidence that the continents had moved. They based their idea of continental drift on several lines of evidence: fit of the continents, paleoclimate indicators, truncated geologic features, and fossils. fit of the continents