EARTH’S

MECHANISM
(CONTINENTAL
DRIFT THEORY)
Pangaea – a gigantic
supercontinent about 250 million
years ago
- “All earth”
Two smaller supercontinents
A German geologist and
meteorologist Alfred Wegener
proposed the theory of continental
drift.
Continental Drift Theory – the
continents and other landmasses
have shifted their positions
during Earth history.
The present continents
Evidences in support of
Continental Drift
1. Evidence from
landforms/continental Jigsaw
Puzzle
- the shape of the continents
seemed to fit together
2. Evidence from fossils.
- Fossils from one continent matched
fossils from other continents.
- Wegener used both animal and plant
fossils.
Mesosaurus and Glossopteris
3. Evidence from climate.
- Glacial deposits were found in
Antarctica, South America, South
Africa, and India.
- Coal deposits of similar age that
were formed in tropical conditions
were found in the part of Antarctica,
North America and UK.
- Glacial Scratches
4. Evidences from rocks
- The rocks also provide evidence that
continents drifted apart from each
other.
Examples:
Rock formations in Africa line up with
that in South America.
Folded cape mountains of South
America and Africa line up perfectly.
5. Coal deposits
*Coal beds are formed from the
compaction and decomposition of
swamp plants that lived million years
ago (discovered in South
America,Africa,Indian
subcontinent,Southeast Asia and
Antarctica.
*The current location of Antarctica
cannot sustain substantial amount of
life.
6. The seafloor spreading
- The formation of new areas of
oceanic crust, which occurs
through the upwelling of magma at
midocean ridges and its
subsequent outward movement on
either side.
- Suggested by Harry Hess together
with Robert Dietz to explain
continental drift.
As the new seafloor is formed at
the mid-ocean ridge, the old
seafloor farthest from the ridge is
destroyed at the subduction zone.

The rate of a new seafloor is not

always as fast as the destruction of
the old seafloor at the subduction
zone.
 Creation of new ocean floor
 Overtime, new oceanic crust pushed
far from the ridge
 Allowed the creation of new bodies of
water (Red Sea)
 Continents of Australia, South
America and Antarctica are pulling
away from each other in the East
Pacific Rise-one of the most active
sites of seafloor spreading(14 cm/yr).
 Findings that support seafloor
spreading theory:
1. Rocks are younger at the mid ocean
ridge.
2. Rocks far from mid ocean ridge are
older
3. Sediments are thinner at the ridge
4. Rocks at the ocean floor are younger
than those at the continents.
 Magnetic Reversal
*The earth’s magnetic field is generated
in the hot molten outer core. Earth’s
magnetic field is a dipole-North pole
and South pole.
*Magnetic reversal is also called
magnetic ‘flip’ of the earth. It happens
when North pole is transformed to
South pole and vice versa-due to the
change in the direction of flow in the
outer core.
Plate tectonic Theory
- The earths lithosphere is divided
into several plates, these plates ride
over the weak asthenosphere where
there are three types of plate
movements (divergent, convergent,
and transform).
- Convection from the core causes
the plate to move around.
 Convection current
-When a substance is heated,less dense
particles rise while denser particles
sink. Once the hot less dense particles
cool down, they sink and the other
less dense particles rise- this process is
called convection current and this is
what exactly happens in the earth’s
mantle.