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Continental Drift Definition
The theory of continental drift states that Earth’s continents have shifted relative to one another during geologic time, giving the impression that they have “drifted” across the ocean floor.
Description Continental Drift Theory
Abraham Ortelius was the first person who gave the idea of continental drift theoy. After that, Otto Ampferer, an Austrian geologist, was a pioneer of the contemporary conception of mobilizm. Alfred Wegener independently and more fully developed the idea in 1912, however due to the lack of a motivational drive, many people rejected the idea. Mantle convection was later hypothesized as the mechanism by English geologist Arthur Holmes.
The concept of continental drift has been incorporated into the science of plate tectonics, which examines how continents move while riding on lithosphere plates.
The existence of a rise in the central Atlantic Ocean was established in 1947 by a group of scientists led by Maurice Ewing, who also discovered that the bottom beneath the sediments was chemically and physically distinct from continental crust.
A system of mid-oceanic ridges was discovered by oceanographers as they continued to bathymeter the ocean basins. An crucial finding was that fresh ocean bottom was being formed along this system.
Evidence Of Continental Drift Throughout History
Similar animal and plant fossils found on the beaches of multiple continents, which imply that they were formerly linked, are one piece of evidence for the tectonic plates’ continental drift.
Both South Africa and Brazil have yielded fossils of the Mesosaurus, a freshwater reptile. The discovery of Lystrosaurus fossils on rocks from the same age in Antarctica, India, and Africa offers gave more proof.
Numerous earthworm groups, including those native to both Africa and South America like Octochaetidae and Acanthodrilidae, are among the evidence now in existence. Another piece of evidence supporting the concept of continental drift is the arrangement of the facing sides of Africa and South America in a complementary manner.
Conclusion
Continental theoy proves that various continents shift from its original position over the period of time.
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