What is called continental drift?
What is called continental drift?
Continental drift is the hypothesis that the Earth’s continents have moved over geologic time relative to each other, thus appearing to have “drifted” across the ocean bed. The speculation that continents might have ‘drifted’ was first put forward by Abraham Ortelius in 1596.
How do continents drift?
Today, we know that the continents rest on massive slabs of rock called tectonic plates. The plates are always moving and interacting in a process called plate tectonics. The continents are still moving today. As the seafloor grows wider, the continents on opposite sides of the ridge move away from each other.
When was the continental drift?
In 1912 a German meteorologist named Alfred Wegener introduced the first detailed and comprehensive theory of continental drift.
How did the plates drift?
Plates at our planet’s surface move because of the intense heat in the Earth’s core that causes molten rock in the mantle layer to move. It moves in a pattern called a convection cell that forms when warm material rises, cools, and eventually sink down.
What caused the continental drift?
The causes of continental drift are perfectly explained by the plate tectonic theory. The earth’s outer shell is composed of plates that move a little bit every year. Heat coming from the interior of the earth triggers this movement to occur through convection currents inside the mantle.
Is the supercontinent?
In geology, a supercontinent is the assembly of most or all of Earth’s continental blocks or cratons to form a single large landmass. 57% of Earth’s total land area. The supercontinent Pangaea is the collective name describing all of the continental landmasses when they were most recently near to one another.
What is the main idea of continental drift?
Continental drift. The idea of continental drift has been subsumed by the theory of plate tectonics, which explains that the continents move by riding on plates of the Earth’s crust.
What does continental drift indicate about the Earth?
(Image credit: USGS) Continental drift was a theory that explained how continents shift position on Earth’s surface. Set forth in 1912 by Alfred Wegener, a geophysicist and meteorologist, continental drift also explained why look-alike animal and plant fossils, and similar rock formations, are found on different continents.
What is meant by continental drift?
Continental drift. Continental drift is the movement of the Earth’s continents relative to each other by appearing to drift across the ocean bed.
Which terms describes continental drift?
Continental drift, large-scale horizontal movements of continents relative to one another and to the ocean basins during one or more episodes of geologic time. This concept was an important precursor to the development of the theory of plate tectonics, which incorporates it.
