Lecture 4: Continental Drift Terminology

Lecture 4: Continental Drift

Terminology: theory, plate tectonics, wrinkled apple, Alfred Wegener, Pangaea, Gondwana, Central Pangaean Mountain Belt, fossil distribution, Arthur Holmes, convection current hypothesis
Numbers: none
Dates:

What century did Abrahm Ortelius first point out the similarity of coastlines of South American and Africa?

What year did Alfred Wegener first present is ideas about continental drift

What year did Alfred Wegener die?

Geography:

Be sure you know which continents and what regions of the world are involved in each of Alfred Wegener’s lines of evidence.

Review Questions:

Explain what a scientific theory is

How did the “wrinkled apple model” seek to explain the features of our planet’s surface?

Be sure to explain and discuss how Alfred Wegener used his six lines of evidence to argue for continental drift.

Which four explanations were used to explain the distribution of fossils? Which one was favored?

Discuss at least four reasons why Alfred Wegener’s ideas met heavy criticism

Explain Arthur Holmes’ convection current hypothesis. What did it assume about the Earth’s layers that was largely unknown at the time?