Wegener chose to describe Panthalassa as a single, vast ocean because he believed it helped support his theory of continental drift. By proposing the existence of one supercontinent surrounded by a single ocean, Wegener sought to explain how the continents could have once been joined together before moving apart over geological time. This concept of a unified Panthalassa ocean helped provide a framework for his continental drift theory.
Panthalassa means "all seas." It was the all the world's oceans that surrounded Pangaea before the continental drift occurred in the triassic period.
Alfred Wegener was a German weatherman (more specifically, a meteorologist at the University of Marburg) who wrote a book, "Die Entstehung der Kontinente und Ozeane," or "The Origin of Continents and Oceans" on the idea of Pangaea. This book came out in 1912 in Germany and 1915 in the USA, despite the First World War going on. Although Alfred Wegener is often recognized as being the originator of the idea of Pangaea, the American geologist Frank Bursley Taylor started theorizing about Pangaea in 1908. He did not, however, really go anywhere with this idea and didn't come up with the name "Pangaea". Alfred Wegener did.
The name "Panthalassa" comes from the Greek words "pan" meaning "all" and "thalassa" meaning "sea." It was used to refer to the global ocean that surrounded the supercontinent Pangaea during the late Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras.
Alfred Wegener
Kurt Wegener was Alfred Wegener's brother. Kurt also had a career in science as a meteorologist and polar explorer.
That would be Alfred Wegener
Alfred Wegener, a German meteorologist and geophysicist, first proposed the theory of Pangaea and Panthalassa in the early 20th century. He suggested that the continents were once joined together in a supercontinent called Pangaea, surrounded by a single large ocean known as Panthalassa.
Alfred Wegener couldn't describe how the plate tectonics moved. So, scientists rejected his hypothesis.
Alfred Wegener proposed the theory of continental drift in 1912, suggesting that continents were once connected and drifted apart over time. Pangaea refers to the supercontinent that existed around 300 million years ago when all landmasses were united. Panthalassa was the single large ocean surrounding Pangaea.
Alfred Wegener
Panthalassa.
Panthalassa.
Panthalassa.
Pan-THA-luh-suh.
Pangaea was a supercontinent that existed around 335 million years ago and later split into the continents we have today. Panthalassa was the vast ocean surrounding Pangaea.
Panthalassa means "all seas." It was the all the world's oceans that surrounded Pangaea before the continental drift occurred in the triassic period.
Fossils, rock layers, and mountain ranges were some of the land features that provided evidence for Wegener's hypothesis of continental drift.