guided notes about continental drift chapter 17, section 1

Guided Notes about Continental Drift

Chapter 17, Section 1

1. Who were the first to consider the idea of moving landmasses?

Early mapmakers were the first to consider moving landmasses. They noticed how continents fit together.

2. Construct a flow map or timeline…

1. Abraham Ortelius—late 1500’s: - thought that North America and

South America were separated from Europe and Africa by floods and earthquakes.


2. Eduard Suess—late 1800’s: thought that the Southern continents were once joined together as a single landmass, which he called Gondwanaland


3. Alfred Wegener—1912: -proposed the theory of continental

drift,but it was rejected by the scientific community

3. Describe Wegener’s theory of continental drift and Pangaea.

Earth’s continents were once joined as a single landmass. Wegener called it Pangaea, which means “all the Earth”. It broke apart 200 million years ago, and since that time, the continents have been drifting to their current positions.

Evidence for Continental Drift

FIT OF THE COASTLINES the coasts of South America and

Africa fit together like a puzzle in the Atlantic Ocean


SIMILAR ROCK FORMATIONS Rocks in areas that were once joined

have the same age and structure, such as the Appalachian Mountains and mountains in Greenland and Europe.


FOSSILS Fossils of land animals and plants were

found in widely separated continents. These fossils are all the same age, which suggests that all land was once joined.

Glossopteris (an ancient fern-like plant) Mesosaurus (a small aquatic reptile)


CLIMATE EVIDENCE Layers of coal were found in polar

regions Glacial deposits were found in tropical

and temperate regions

5. Why was Wegener’s hypothesis rejected?

1. Wegener could not explain what was causing the continents to move.

2. Wegener could not explain how the continents were able to move through the solid rock of the ocean floor.

guided notes about continental drift chapter 17, section 1

Documents