Supercontinents and Landforms Warm Up 1/31 1. What are the 3 types of plate boundaries? 2. Which layer/sphere of the Earth are the plates made of? 3. Which layer/sphere contributes to the movement of the plates? 4. Which Hawaiian Island is the youngest? Hawaii Article Discussion Supercontinents and Landforms Continental Drift • Continental Drift is a theory proposed by the German scientist, Alfred Wegener in 1912 • He believed that the continents are slowly drifting around the Earth and were once a single supercontinent which he called Pangaea Continental Drift The single ocean surrounding Pangaea is called Panthalassa Continental Drift Wegener’s theory was not accepted until the late 50’s after his death Pangaea Pangaea formed roughly 270 million years ago It split into Laurasia and Gondwanaland roughly 200 million years ago Evidence for Continental Drift 1) The shape of the continents fit together like a puzzle Evidence for Continental Drift 2) Fossil Evidence – Fossils of the same species were found across the continents These are spread so far apart that there is no way the organisms could have crossed the oceans Evidence for Continental Drift 3) Glacier Grooves – Wegener found grooves left by the movement of glaciers in continents that are now too hot to have glaciers Evidence for Continental Drift 4) Rock Composition- Wegener also found that there were matching rock formations on the continents Again, these were very unlikely to occurred separately Landforms of Earth Landforms are the natural features and shapes that exist on Earth Landform Hunt Travel around the room and locate the definitions for the landforms of Earth. Fill in your landform chart by writing the definition in the box next to the picture. Hang on to this so you can study from it!! Your World Project This will be a project that runs through multiple units so you need to hang on to it! You will receive a grade for each section of this project. This is probably the largest project of the year so take it seriously! Your World Project - Beginning For the first section: • Start by drawing your own supercontinent (like Pangaea) and giving it a name • Be sure to label all of the landforms and assign them names (such as Ascavaris Ocean, Pintapu Peninsula, Gulf of Saberi, etc.) • You can also add forests, deserts, lakes, rivers, etc… • You must have at least 20 named landforms! • If you finish early, you can start to think about what type of lifeforms inhabit your planet?.