Continental drift

• what are the five pieces of evidence for continental drift?

  • jigsaw fit of continental coastlines
  • similar geological histories
  • glacial deposits
  • plant and animal fossils distributions
  • paleomagnetism
• what is an example of a glacial deposit in the Southern Hemisphere which can be used to support continental drift?

  glacial striations which show ice flow direction
• what do glacial striations tell us that supports continental drift?

  patterns in striations tell us that the continents must have once been connected in order for glaciers and ice sheets to cover them
• what was the supercontinent called that glacial striations suggest the continents once joined to form?

  Gondwanaland
• how does paleomagnetism support continental drift?

  the magnetic poles appear to have wandered over time - this is seen as different continents have different apparent polar wander paths
• who was the first person to notice the jigsaw fit of the continents around the Atlantic?

  cartographer Ortelius
• who was the person who went onto group the southern continents together as Gondwanaland?

  Suess
• who used fossils to propose that the continents were once grouped together as Pangea?

  Alfred Wegener
• who proposed that continental drift is driven by subcrustal convection currents?

  Holmes
• who mapped the sea floor and discovered mid ocean ridges?

  Harry Hess
• who put forward that magnetic stripes are evidence for seafloor spreading as they act as records of the magnetic field polarity reversing?

  Vine and Matthews
• what did Vine and Matthews put forward?

  the idea that magnetic stripes are evidence for seafloor spreading as they act as records of the magnetic fields polarity reversing
• who explained transform faults?

  Tuzo Wilson
• what did Tuzo Wilson do?

  explain transform faults