GEOL 1114 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Geomagnetic Reversal, Scientific Revolution, Seafloor Spreading
Document Summary
Continental drift theory: alfred wegener first proposed the continental drift hypothesis in 1915 and later published the origin of continents and oceans, a supercontinent called pangea began breaking apart over 200 million years ago. Evidence to support the continental drift theory: the fit of the continents. 15th century european map makers noticed the fit of south america and africa. Wegener noticed the similarities of shorelines across oceans. Modern day geologists use continental shelfs in place of shorelines: fossil evidence. Existence of identical fossils on widely separated land masses. Glossopteris: plant identified by its large seeds: rock types and structural similarities. Rock types and ages match on both sides of the atlantic. Mountains comparable in age and structure to the appalachians are found in the. Late paleozoic glaciation near the present day equator. Fossils from coal fields indicate past existence of tropical swamps in eastern united. Wegener"s hypothesis was correct in principle, but contained incorrect details.
