1. Earth Science Historical Introduction Continental Drift

2. What do you notice about the continents?

3. ► 1596 – Abraham Ortelius, a mapmaker, suggested the Americas were “torn away from Europe and Africa…by earthquakes and floods”

5. The Continental Drift Theory ► Meteorologist Alfred Wegener ► 1915 published “The Origins of Oceans and Continents”  proposed Pangaea

6. Supercontinent “Pangaea” ► Idea based on ‘fit’ of the continents

7. Wegener’s Evidence ► Fossil evidence  Tropical plant fossils in Antarctica ► Rock type and structural similarities  Matching mountain ranges on different continents ► Paleoclimatic evidence  Glacial deposits in Africa

8. Fossil Evidence

9. Criticism of Drift Theory ► Theory not accepted in Wegener’s lifetime  He could not explain how such large land masses could be moved Last photo of Wegener before his death in 1930 on a meteorological expedition in Greenland