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Continental drift, large-scale horizontal movement of continents relative to one another and to the ocean basins during one or more episodes of geologic time. This concept was an important precursor to the development of the theory of plate tectonics, which incorporates it.
- Plate Tectonics
Plate motions cause mountains to rise where plates push...
- Continental Drift Explained
Continental drift is the idea that Earth’s continents...
- Plate Tectonics
Causes of Continental Drift. The causes of continental drift are perfectly explained by the plate tectonic theory. The earth’s outer shell is composed of plates that move a little bit every year. Heat coming from the interior of the earth triggers this movement to occur through convection currents inside the mantle.
- Why Did Scientists Reject Wegener's Continental Drift Theory?
- Evolving Theories
- What Evidence Is There For Continental Drift?
- Additional Resources
Geologists roundly denounced Wegener's continental drift theory after he published the details in a 1915 book called "The Origin of Continents and Oceans." Part of the opposition was because Wegener didn't have a good model to explain how the continents moved, something scientists later explained under the umbrella of plate tectonics — the theory t...
When Wegener proposed continental drift, many geologists were contractionists. They thought Earth's incredible mountains were created because our planet had been cooling and shrinking since its formation, Frankel said. And to account for the identical fossils discovered on continents such as South America and Africa, scientists invoked ancient land...
A map of the continents inspired Wegener's quest to explain Earth's geologic history. He was intrigued by the interlocking fit of Africa's and South America's shorelines. Wegener then assembled an impressive amount of continental drift evidence to show that Earth's continents were once connected in a single supercontinent. Wegener knew that fossil ...
Learn more about the history of continental drift and plate tectonics from the U.S. Geological Survey.Learn more about Alfred Wegener from the NASA Earth Observatory.Watch this short video on YouTube about plate tectonics and continental drift, from National Geographic.Alfred Wegener proposed that the continents were once united into a single supercontinent named Pangaea, meaning all earth in ancient Greek. He suggested that Pangaea broke up long ago and that the continents then moved to their current positions. He called his hypothesis continental drift.
Feb 28, 2022 · A new study by researchers from China elucidate the driving forces behind the continental drift responsible for the breakup of the South Atlantic region into the South American and African...
