1. Add the notes to your vocabulary
Page 38 in your notebooks
Add the notes to your vocabulary

2. Pangaea
Long ago, all the Earth’s continents were just one giant continent
This giant landmass that broke into our present day continents is called PANGAEA
Supercontinent

3. Have You Ever Noticed How Certain Continents Seem to Fit Together?
Look at this picture of the world. Which continents do you think look like they could fit together?

4. Tectonic Plates
These plates are formed from the cracking of the lithosphere.

5. Under every continent is a gigantic slate made of rock.
These are called tectonic plates.
As the plates move apart, land masses move as well.
Designed by Cody Thomas. 9/3/2011

6. Continental Drift
The theory that the continents moved across the Earth’s surface
Theory of Alfred Wegener
Very very very slow
Inches a year
However, this process is VERY slow. Current estimates believe it took over 225 million years to move as far as they have.
Continental drift

7. Theory of plate tectonics
A theory stating that the Earth’s Lithosphere is broken into huge plates that move and change size over time

8. The Earth is constantly changing
Uniformitarianism
A theory stating that processes shaping the Earth today , such as erosion and deposition also shaped Earth in the past and that these processes cause large changes over geologic time.
The Earth is constantly changing

9. Mid Ocean Ridge HUGE underwater mountain range
Found in all of the Earth’s ocean
Helps explain continental drift