Continental Drift Activity You have a three-part task: A. Determine which statements constitute evidence B. Identify the pieces of evidence that support and the pieces that contradict the idea that continents have moved C. Explain how each piece of evidence supports or contradicts this idea

Instructions for Continental Drift Activity 1.Read each of the 10 statements on the “Analyzing Evidence: Continental Drift” page. 2.If the statement is a piece of evidence, put a checkmark in the “Yes” column on the left. If it is not a piece of evidence, put a checkmark in the “No” column. 3.Decide if each statement supports the idea that the continents have moved. Put a checkmark in the “Yes” column if you think the statement does or a checkmark in the “No” column if you think the statement does not.

Glossopteris Fossil Locations

What is Continental Drift? Continental drift is the idea that all of the continents were once joined together to form a single piece of land. This land broke into pieces and the continents drifted apart.

Who Was Alfred Wegener? German man born in 1880 Studied astronomy and meteorology (weather) Wrote to his future wife in 1910: “Doesn’t the east coast of South America fit exactly against the west coast of Africa as if they had once been joined? This is an idea I’ll have to pursue.”

Alfred Wegener Continued Fought in World War I and was injured in 1914 Spent a lot of time thinking about his theory, continental drift Published a book in 1915 called The Origin of Continents and Oceans – Described Continental drift and the evidence to support it

Alfred Wegener Continued In 1922, he write: Geological evidence shows that about 300 million years ago, all of the continents were joined together. I will refer to this “supercontinent” as Pangaea, meaning “all lands.” It appears that Pangaea began to break up about 200 million years ago.

Alfred Wegener This idea was first suggested by Alfred Wegener in He called the single continent Pangaea.

Evidence to Support Continental Drift 1.Satellites show that the continents are still moving 2.The outlines of some continents match really well 3.Fossils of extinct plants and worms are found in three different parts of the world that are believed to have been connected in the past