Name: Date:

Activity 1: A Journey from the Past to the Future!

To further understand the idea of Alfred Wegener, perform the activity below to learn about the other evidence of
Continental Drift Theory.

Let's find out:

What is the evidence of the Continental Drift Theory?

Let's use these materials:

photocopy of the seven continents, blank globe map, pair of scissors, and world map

Let's do it this way:

1. Use the space provided after each question to write your answers and observation in this activity.

2. Look carefully at the continents on a globe or a world map.

3. Cut out carefully the picture of the landmasses. These cutout-landmasses represent the continents and some of the large islands
of the Earth a hundred million years ago.
(Note: Before forming "Pangaea," try to place each landmass cut out on top of the present-day World Map to familiarize
yourself about the name of each continent and imagine how it drifted to its present location.)

4. In the drawn circle in a separate sheet, construct the supercontinent using the legends as your basis.
(Note: Consider the possible location and position of each continent based on the legends before pasting it in the blank
globe map.)

5. Answer the following questions:

Q1. Do the Glossopteris fossils tell us all landmasses were once joined together?
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Q2. If Glossopteris fossils were found in Antarctica, what was the climate of this continent before?
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Q3. If the climate and the position of a place were relative to each other, where then was the initial location of Antarctica
250 million years ago?
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Q4. Is the presence of animal fossils tells that South America, Africa, and Antarctica were once connected?
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6. Examine the giant landmass "Pangaea" and answer the questions below:
Q5. What clues are useful in reconstructing Pangaea?
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Q6. Which continents were obviously neighbors before?

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Q7. Where do you think was the location of the Philippines in Pangaea during the time when it existed? Why?
(Note: Recall the lesson on Convergent Plate Boundaries: Oceanic vs. Oceanic Crust)
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7. Now move one continent relative to its current location. Observe the direction of its motion carefully as it assumes it current
location and position. Do the same procedure to the other continents.
Q8. If the continents will continue to move, try to predict the Philippines' location 25 million years from now. Why?
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Adapted from https://studylib.net/doc/7058676/continental-drift-lab---cms15-16

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Article 1
When explorers and mapmakers crossed the Atlantic Ocean in the
1600s, some of them noticed an interesting coincidence. The more complete
their maps became, the more the Atlantic Ocean shorelines of the Americas
and the Old World continents of Africa and Europe looked as if they would
fit together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Initially this was simply noted as a
curiosity. Some of them may have wondered if the continents had ever been
together. They thought of rock as solid and unmoving. The idea that whole
continents could move was not taken seriously. In 1912, Alfred Wegener
German explorer, astronomer, and meteorologist (a meteorologist is a
scientist who studies weather)—proposed that the continents we see are the
broken fragments of a single landmass that he called Pangaea (pan-
JEE-ah), which means all Earth. He hypothesized that over
millions of years, the continents slowly moved to their present
positions.
Alfred Wegener collected diverse pieces of evidence to
support his theory, including geological "fit" and fossil evidence. It
is important to know that the following specific fossil evidence
was not brought up by Wegener to support his theory. Wegener did
not collect the fossils, but he called attention to the idea of using
these scientific documents stating there were fossils of species
present in separate continents in order to support his claim.
Geological "fit" evidence is the matching of large-scale
geological features on different continents. It has been noted that the
coastlines of South America and West Africa seem to match up, however
more particularly, the rock terrains of separate continents confirm as well.
Examples include the Appalachian Mountains of eastern North America
linked with the Scottish Highlands, the familiar rock strata of the Karroo
system of South Africa matched correctly with the Santa Catarina system
in Brazil, and Brazil and Ghana mountain ranges agreeing over the Atlantic
Ocean. Glaciers carve rocks and leave marks as they move. Thus, he noted
glacial striations (scratches on bedrock caused by the moving ice of a
glacier) in places such as Australia and Africa that now have a climate too
warm for glaciers. He suggested that these places that now have warm
climates were once located near the South Pole.
In this evidence, scientists can determine the direction of
movement of each continent.
In addition, the existence of coal deposits in Antarctica suggested
that it was once located near the region of the Earth where the climate is
enough to support complex life forms such as plants and tall trees.
Also, Wegener mapped-out the distributions of the four Permian
and Triassic fossil groups such as Mesosaurus, Lystrosaurus, Cynognathus
and Glossopteris which are used as biogeographic evidence for continental
drift and land bridging. Look at the pictures at the right and point out the
location of these fossils. Are they found only in one location?
Despite Wegener's gathered evidence supporting his idea about
drifting continents during his time, the scientific community rejected him for
some problems: Wegener was not a geophysicist, he estimated the speed of
continental motion, 250 cm/year, was unbelievably high, and he cannot
explain what causes the continents to move.
The idea that continents could move was so radical that few geologists took
it seriously. How could the landmasses move through the solid rock of the ocean
basins? The causes suggested by Wegener could not provide the force needed to move continents. As another way to discredit
Wegener’s idea of continental drift, scientists pointed out that he was not a geologist. In 1930 when Alfred Wegener died on an
expedition to Greenland, very few geologists supported his ideas. His most enthusiastic supporters were in the Southern
Hemisphere where the most convincing evidence for continental drift had been observed.
You have learned that Alfred Lothar Wegener's curiosity drives him to look for evidence that supports his Continental
Drift Theory that continents were once connected as a big landmass called "Pangaea."
The Continental Drift Theory is being supported by the following evidence: continental fit, matching of rocks, fossils of
ancient organisms, coal deposits in Antarctica, ancient climates, and glaciers carvings.
Despite Wegener's gathered evidence supporting his idea about drifting continents during his time, the scientific
community rejected him for some problems: Wegener was not a geophysicist, he estimated the speed of continental motion, 250
cm/year, was unbelievably high, and he cannot explain what causes the continents to move.
Nevertheless, Alfred Wegener didn't give up and continued his expedition to search for more evidence but later on died.
It took many years before his Theory of Continental Drift was accepted.