Continental Drift

1. Continental Drift

2. Continental Drift • 1910 Alfred Wegener (VAY guhnur) noticed something about the continents… • Hypothesized that the all the continents were all connected and called it Pangaea (pan JEE uh) • Meaning “All Lands” • Sometimes referred to as a “super continent” • 245 million years ago (when the dinosaurs lived)

4. Continental Drift • Hypothesized that the continents have slowly moved apart • Geologists refer to this as continental drift • Why Are they spreading apart? • Convection currents in the mantle and Tectonic Plates • Hot = low density, rises • Cooler= more dense , falls

5. How to prove his hypothesizes • Wegener needed evidence to prove he was correct • Rock formations on each continent • Geological evidence on each continent • Land formations such as mountain ranges • Climate data • Many scientists disagreed with him and from 1920- 1960 most scientists paid little attention to the theory

6. YOUR TASK • It is your job to see if you can re-create Pangaea • You will follow steps similar to those of Wegener to see if fossil evidence supports the theory that one supercontinent divided into several smaller continents

7. You will be mapping… • European Flora (Plant) • Cynognathus (reptile) • Lystrosaurus (reptile) • Glossopteris (reptile) • Mesoasaurus (reptile) • Alpine Mountains

8. After you have finished constructing • You will need to answer: • Analyzing evidence table • Discussion questions • These will need to be completed for next science class • If you work well in class, there should be no homework

9. Pangaea

10. Pangaea Video • Animation to show the past 600 Million years!