GEOL 1050 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Continental Drift, Rock Magnetism, Geographical Pole
Document Summary
It is commonly known today that earth changes. Plate tectonics, the unifying theory of earth processes: is a relatively new development in scientific thinking. Geologists thought: oceans and the continents were permanently fixed, the face of earth had not changed throughout time. Alfred wegener: german meteorologist and polar explorer. Continental fit : wegener noted the continents seemed to fit together, he argued that the fit could not be coincidental, present shorelines make a rough fit, the continental shelf edges make a better fit. Fossil evidence: identical fossils found on widely separated land, these organisms could not have crossed an ocean, pangaea explains the distribution. Matching geological units: distinctive rock assemblages match across the atlantic, geologic structures, rock types, rock ages, mountain belts connect across the atlantic. Wegener had multiple lines of strong evidence. Yet, his idea was debated, ridiculed, and ignored. Why: he couldn"t explain how or why continents moved, he died in 1930 at the age of 40.