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Plate Tectonics Wengener in 1912, a German Scientist Named Alfred Wegener (VEG Nur) Proposed That the Continents Did at One Time Fit Together

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Plate Tectonics Wengener in 1912, a German Scientist Named Alfred Wegener (VEG Nur) Proposed That the Continents Did at One Time Fit Together Plate Tectonics Wengener In 1912, a German scientist named Alfred Wegener (VEG nur) proposed that the continents did at one time fit together. He suggested that all the continents were once connected. Wegener said they were once one big landmass. He called this landmass Pangaea Pangaea (pan JEE uh), which means “all land.” Continental Drift About 200 million years ago, Pangaea broke into pieces. The pieces drifted away from each other. We call these pieces continents. Wegner’s hypothesis is called continental (kahn tuh NEN tul) drift. Continental drift is the hypothesis that Pangaea broke apart into continents that moved slowly to where they are today. Wegener’s basic idea wasn’t accepted until long after his death in 1930. More evidence came later to support his ideas. Evidence Supporting Animal fossils offer one clue that the continents might have been joined together millions of years ago. Fossils are the remains, Continental Drift imprints, or traces of prehistoric organisms. Fossils can tell when and where organisms once lived and how they lived. For example, fossils of Mesosaurus have been found in South America and in Africa. Mesosaurus is a reptile that lived on land and in fresh water. How could this reptile move between two continents separated by a salty ocean? Another fossil that supports continental drift is Glossopteris (glahs AHP tur us). Fossils of this plant are found on five continents—Africa, Australia, Asia, South America, and Antarctica. Finding Glossopteris in so many areas supported the idea that all of these regions once were connected and had similar climates. Scientists have found fossils of warm-weather plants on the island of Spitsbergen in the Arctic Ocean. This is one of the coldest places on Earth. Wegener’s hypothesis of continental drift proposes that Spitsbergen Island drifted to the Arctic from a tropical region of Earth. Glaciers are large, slow moving bodies of ice on land. Glaciers leave tracks as they move, scouring and polishing rock surfaces under them. They also leave deposits of glacial rock and sediment. Glaciers are found in cold areas. Yet there are traces of glaciers and deposits in many tropical and temperate regions of Earth. Wegener’s hypothesis of continental drift says that millions of years ago, some tropical and temperate lands had cold climates and were located near Earth’s south pole. These continents were joined together and partly covered with ice. When the continents drifted apart into warmer climates, the glaciers melted away from these areas. The glacial deposits left behind add more evidence to support continental drift. All material adapted from publisher supplied resources Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Plate Tectonics The rocks located where the land broke apart should be similar. Similar rock structures are found on different continents. For example, rock structures found in the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States are similar to rock structures found in Greenland and Western Europe. Some rock structures from eastern South America are similar to rock structures in western Africa. Rock clues like these support the idea that the continents were connected in the past. Theories of Wegener used clues found in rock, fossil, and climate to support his hypothesis of continental drift. The computer model below continental drift shows how the continents might have drifted over millions of years. But Wegener was not able to explain why the continents broke apart. Most importantly, he could not explain what caused the continents to drift. New ideas about continental drift were developed. One of these ideas is called seafloor spreading (end of section 1) 250 million yrs 135 million years Present day Outline Summary A. The continental drift hypothesis—continents have moved slowly to their current locations. 1. All continents were once connected as one large landmass now called Pangaea. 2. The land mass broke apart, and the continents drifted to their present positions. 3. Evidence for continental drift a. Puzzle-like fit of the continents b. Similar fossils have been found on different continents. c. Remains of warm-weather plants in Arctic areas and glacial deposits in tropical areas suggest that continents have moved. d. Similar rock structures are found on different continents. B. At first, continental drift was not accepted because no one could explain how or why continents had moved. Mapping the seafloor Sound waves on ships were used to map the seafloor. Sound waves travel through the water. When they hit the seafloor, they bounce back. The longer it takes for the sound waves to bounce back to the ship, the deeper the water is. All material adapted from publisher supplied resources Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Plate Tectonics Scientists found that the seafloor had an underwater system of ridges. These ridges are like mountain ranges and valleys on land. In some of these ridges are long rift valleys. These rift valleys are like rips in the ocean floor. Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur in the rift valleys from time to time. Underwater volcanic eruptions create underwater mountains. When these mountains push out of the water, they create islands. Evidence of The theory of seafloor spreading proposes that magma, or melted rock, under Earth’s crust is forced up toward the surface at the Seafloor mid ocean ridges, forming new seafloor. When the less dense magma hits Earth’s crust, it flows sideways. The magma carries the seafloor Spreading away from the central ridge in both directions. New seafloor is continuously being created. Older sea floor is pushed away from the central ridge as shown in the figure above. Scientists began studying rocks on the seafloor. They took rock samples from the mid-ocean ridges. They also took rock samples farther away from the ridge. They found that rocks near the mid-ocean ridge were the youngest rocks. Rocks farther away from the ridge were older. The older seafloor is pushed away from the ridge. Like tree rings, the further away the rocks, the older they are. The age of the rocks and their distance from the mid-ocean ridge supports the theory of seafloor spreading. Earth’s magnetic field has a north pole and a south pole. Invisible lines of magnetic force leave Earth near the south pole and enter Earth near the north pole. At this time, Earth’s magnetic field travels from south to north. This is not always true. At times, the lines of magnetic force have traveled in the opposite direction, north to south. These direction changes are called magnetic reversals. During a magnetic reversal, the lines of magnetic force run the opposite way. All of these magnetic reversals are recorded in rocks forming along mid- ocean ridges. History record Minerals containing iron, such as magnetite, are found in rocks on the seafloor. Iron in the rock records the magnetic reversal. A device In the seafloor called a magnetometer (mag nuh TAH muh tur) tells scientists what direction a magnetic field has. Over time, the reversals are shown in strips parallel to mid-ocean ridges. Changes in Earth’s magnetic field can be seen on both sides of mid-ocean ridges. This discovery adds to the evidence that the seafloor is spreading. The magnetic reversals showed that new rock was being formed at mid-ocean ridges. This helped explain how Earth’s crust could move. It gives evidence that the continental drift hypothesis did not provide. All material adapted from publisher supplied resources Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Plate Tectonics Outline summary A. Using sound waves, scientists discovered a system of underwater mountain ranges called the mid-ocean ridges in many oceans. B. In the 1960s, Harry Hess suggested the theory of seafloor spreading to explain the ridges. 1. Hot less dense material below Earth’s crust rises upward to the surface at the mid-ocean ridges. 2. Then, it flows sideways, carrying the seafloor away from the ridge. 3. As the seafloor spreads apart, magma moves up and flows from the cracks, cools, and forms new seafloor. C. Evidence for seafloor spreading 1. Youngest rocks are located at mid-ocean ridges. 2. Reversals of Earth’s magnetic field are recorded by rocks in strips parallel to ridges Plate Tectonics In the 1960s, scientists developed a new theory that combined continental drift and seafloor spreading. According to the theory of plate tectonics (tek TAH nihks), Earth’s crust and part of the upper mantle are broken into plates, or sections, that move around on a plasticlike layer of the mantle. Plates Plates are large sections of Earth’s crust and upper mantle. These plates float and move around on a plasticlike layer of the upper mantle. They are able to float because of different densities (recall mass over volume) Spheres Together, the crust and the rigid upper mantle form the lithosphere (LIH thuh sfihr). The lithosphere is about 100 km thick. The layer below is called the asthenosphere (as THE nuh sfihr). The asthenosphere is plasticlike. The rigid plates of the lithosphere float and move around on the plasticlike asthenosphere. Plate Boundaries When plates move, the result of these movements shows up at plate boundaries. The area where two plates meet is called a boundary. Movements at one boundary means that changes must happen at other boundaries. Plates can move closer together and converge, or collide. They also can pull apart or slide by one another (Diverge). Convergent When two plates converge, or come together, they form a convergent boundary. One plate can sink and disappear under the other plate. For example, oceanic plates are denser than continental plates.
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