Continental Drift

MUHAMMAD ARSLAN
AHSAN ALI KHAN
MUHAMMAD BILAL

CONTINENTAL DRIFT THEORY

Wegeners continental drift hypothesis stated that the continents had once
been joined to form a single supercontinent.

Wegener proposed that the supercontinent, Pangaea, began to break apart

200 million years ago and form the present landmasses.

CONTINENTAL DRIFT

BREAKING OF PANGAEA INTO LAURASIA

AND GONDWANA

APPARENT AFFINITY OF PHYSICAL

FEATURES

THE CONTINENTS FIT TOGETHER LIKE THE PIECE OF

JIGSAW PUZZLE

MOUNTAIN RANGES IN SOUTH AMERICA LINE UP EXACTLY

WITH THOSE IN AFRICA

Fossil evidence for continental drift includes several similar fossils of the
same organisms found on different landmasses.

Rock evidence for continental drift exists in the form of several mountain belts
that end at one coastline, only to reappear on a landmass across the ocean.

Some mountain ranges on different continents seem to match. For example the
Appalachian mountain range that disappear off the coast of Newfoundland match
mountains in the British Isles and Scandinavia which are comparable in age and
structure age and structure.

HOT SPOTS
A hot spot is a concentration of heat in the mantle capable of producing magma,
which rises to Earths surface; The Pacific plate moves over a hot spot, producing
the Hawaiian Islands.
Hot spot evidence supports that the plates move over the Earths surface

EARTHQUAKES

Earthquakes happen when two tectonic plates move past each other. The
plates do not have smooth edges so there is tremendous friction that keeps
them from sliding...until enough pressure builds up, and then the plates
move suddenly. This sudden movement is what we call an earthquake.

The boundary where the two plates move past each other is called a fault.

EARTHQUAKES

Plotting epicenters on a map (this data: 1980-1996) clearly outline

some of the plate boundaries.

EVIDENCE OF CONTINENTAL DRIFT

Coal usually forms in tropical climates

Coal can be found in areas of north America which could not support the coal
formation

Similar rock layers were found across different continent.

Desert deposits and reefs that

are several hundred million
years old are found in bands
that suggest the equator was
oriented as shown on the left.

If we assume that the poles

and equator are fixed, the
continents must have been in
different positions as shown
on the left.

ANCIENT GLACIAL EVIDENCE

Glaciers scratch grooves into Earths crust as they move, indicating their
direction of movement. Groove patterns match up with Wegeners theory of
how Pangaea broke apart.

Glacial StriationsScratches glaciers leave

on rocks as they travel

NEW EVIDENCE OF A DYNAMIC

EARTH

Sea-floor spreading occurs at mid-ocean ridges and subduction occurs at deep ocean
trenches.

Heat within Earth creates convection currents in the mantle that help move the plates.

Radioactive dating of core samples confirmed evidence that the sea floor is older the
further it is from the ridges.

Magnetic striping patterns in sea floor rock are similar on both sides of an oceanic
ridge, suggesting new ocean floor is being created at the ridge.

Sea-Floor
Spreading
m.y. means
million
years ago

Notice this
compass. It is
important for
the next slide

Amazing
proof of
that the
inner core
flips!
http://platetectonics.pwnet.org/img/blocks.gif

As the sea floor spreads, the lava cools on sea suface and stores
magnetic field. The rocks on the ocean floor have proved that the
earths magnetic field sometimes reverses. The inner core flips
and so the north pole moves to the southern hemisphere! The
earth itself does not flip.