Chapter 5.1 Notes

People have looked at the shaped of continents and noticed that they seem to fit together.

1912 - Alfred Wegener collects evidence and proposes the first theory of continental drift. He says that all the world's landmasses had once been joined in a giant supercontinent that he called Pangaea.

Pangaea began to split apart during the Mesozoic Era.  Gondwanaland formed (in the south.) It later split into Africa, South America, Antarctica, India, Australia.
 

Laurasia formed (in the north.) It later split into North America, Europe, and Asia. India later collided with Asia.    http://pubs.usgs.gov/publications/text/historical.html

Scientists believe the continents were once joined and that the continents' locations on the earth's surface have changed because:

Fossil evidence: New organisms appear in only one area.  Several plants and animal species have been found on different continents.  The organisms could not walk across the oceans and seeds are too heavy to have blown across the oceans.
http://pubs.usgs.gov/publications/text/continents.html

Rock Evidence: Folded mountain ranges in South America and Africa line up.  The mountain ranges are made of the same age and type of rock.

Glacier evidence: movement of ice age glaciers makes sense only if the continents were once joined.