What is Pangaea?

What is Continental Drift?

What is a Theory?

Alfred Wegener: German scientist

=

Wegener was a geologist.

Geologists study rocks and fossils.

Alfred Wegener

?1912: The Theory of Continental

Drift

Alfred Wegener

1912: The Theory of Continental Drift

idea

land

movement

Wegener studied fossils from South American and Africa. He saw some fossils were the same.

1912: The Theory of Continental Drift

1912: The Theory of Continental Drift

Wegener studied fossils from South American and Africa. He saw some fossils were the same.

1912: The Theory of Continental Drift

Wegener studied fossils from South American and Africa. He saw some fossils were the same.

1912: The Theory of Continental Drift

Wegener studied fossils from South American and Africa. He saw some fossils were the same.

1912: The Theory of Continental Drift

Some fossils were the same. How did that happen?

1912: The Theory of Continental Drift

1912: The Theory of Continental Drift

Wegener wrote an article about this theory. He invented the name ‘Pangea.’

Pangea

Pangea.From the Greek wordsPan = ‘all’ and Gaia = ‘Earth’

Pangea, the Supercontinent

Eurasia

Australia

Africa

North America

South

America

Antarctica

65,000,000 years ago

Now

http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/historical.html#anchor4833509

1,600,000,000 years ago

Today

Copyright: C. R. Scotese, PALEOMap Projecthttp://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/geology/anim1.html

Copyright: C. R. Scotese, PALEOMap Projecthttp://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/geology/anim1.html

Copyright: C. R. Scotese, PALEOMap Projecthttp://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/geology/anim1.html

Copyright: C. R. Scotese, PALEOMap Projecthttp://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/geology/anim1.html

Copyright: C. R. Scotese, PALEOMap Projecthttp://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/geology/anim1.html

Copyright: C. R. Scotese, PALEOMap Projecthttp://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/geology/anim1.html

Question: Why are the continents drifting?

Answer: Plate tectonics

This is a plate.

This is a plate.

plate = landtectonics = building or moving

This is a plate.

This is a plate.

Answer: Plate tectonics

Answer: Plate tectonics

This is a plate.

This is a plate.This is a plate.

This is a plate.

This is a plate.

http://dogfoose.com/2011/03/plate-tectonics/

The red areas around the plates (the plate boundaries) are ‘hot zones’ where earthquakes happen.

The red areas around the plates (the plate boundaries) are ‘hot zones’ where earthquakes happen.

How do the plates move?

1. Plates slide past each other.

Earthquakes happen between

the plates.

Example: The San Andreas Fault in California

2. Plates separate from each other.

Volcanoes erupt between the plates under

the ocean. The ocean floor bigger.

Example: This Rift Valley in East Africa

3. Plates crash into each other.

Crashing plates make mountains.

http://www.divediscover.whoi.edu/tectonics/tectonics-collide.html

3. Example: Mountains in Peru, South America

Will the continents continue to drift?What will the earth look like in the future?

Will the continents continue to drift?What will the earth look like in the future?

http://files.myopera.com/edwardpiercy/blog/6-Future-250AP-2.jpg

finis