Sea floor spreading
Subduction
Plate tectonics
Continental sift theory
The continents used to all form the supercontinent of Pangea. The theory of continental drift explains how they separated and formed today.
The continents used to all form the supercontinent of Pangea. The theory of continental drift explains how they separated and formed today.
The theory that suggests the Earth was once a single supercontinent that gradually broke up into the continents we know today is called "continental drift" proposed by Alfred Wegener in the early 20th century. This theory later evolved into the theory of plate tectonics.
Sea floor spreading Subduction Plate tectonics Continental sift theory
Sea floor spreading Subduction Plate tectonics Continental sift theory
The theory that suggests that the Earth was once a single supercontinent that gradually broke up into the continents we know today is called the theory of plate tectonics. This theory explains how the Earth's lithosphere is divided into large plates that move and interact with each other, leading to the shifting of continents over millions of years.
Alfred Wegener, a German meteorologist and geophysicist, proposed the theory of continental drift in the early 20th century. He suggested that continents were once part of a single supercontinent called Pangaea and gradually drifted apart over time.
Alfred Wegener, a German meteorologist, is most famously credited with proposing the theory of continental drift in the early 20th century. He suggested that the continents were once joined together in a single supercontinent called Pangaea and gradually drifted apart over millions of years.
The matching coastlines or jigsaw puzzle-like fit of the continents, as well as the fossil and rock formations that span across continents, suggested to early cartographers the concept of continental drift or the idea that the continents were once joined together in a single supercontinent. This idea eventually led to the development of the theory of plate tectonics.
Sea floor spreading Subduction Plate tectonics Continental sift theory
Sea floor spreading Subduction Plate tectonics Continental sift theory
The theory that all present continents were once joined together in a supercontinent called Pangaea was proposed by Alfred Wegener in 1912. He suggested that over time, Pangaea broke apart into the continents we see today, a process known as continental drift.