Table of Contents
Why did Wegener prove fossil evidence?
Wegener then assembled an impressive amount of evidence to show that Earth’s continents were once connected in a single supercontinent. Wegener knew that fossil plants and animals such as mesosaurs, a freshwater reptile found only South America and Africa during the Permian period, could be found on many continents.
How did Wegener explain similar fossils?
How did Wegener explain similar fossils on different continents? Since neither reptile could have swum great distances across salt water he inferred that they once lived on a single landmass that has since split apart. When continents collide, their edges crumple up.
How are matching fossils evidence for continental drift?
One type of evidence that strongly supported the Theory of Continental Drift is the fossil record. Fossils of similar types of plants and animals in rocks of a similar age have been found on the shores of different continents, suggesting that the continents were once joined.
How did fossils help explain Wegener’s theory?
Wegener supported his theory by demonstrating the biological and geological similarities between continents. South America and Africa contain fossils of animals found only on those two continents, with corresponding geographic ranges.
How did Wegener use fossils to support continental drift?
Wegener used fossil evidence to support his continental drift hypothesis. The fossils of these organisms are found on lands that are now far apart. Wegener suggested that these creatures were alive in warm climate zones and that the fossils and coal later had drifted to new locations on the continents.
How did Alfred Wegener explain the movement of continents?
In the early 20th century, Wegener published a paper explaining his theory that the continental landmasses were “drifting” across the Earth, sometimes plowing through oceans and into each other. He called this movement continental drift.
What was Alfred Wegener’s evidence?
Wegener accumulated a great deal of evidence to support his hypothesis, most notably the remarkable number of close affinities of geologic features on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean . He found the continental margins of the subequatorial portions of Africa and South America fit together with jigsaw- puzzle-like precision.
What evidence did Alfred Wegener have on continental drift?
Alfred Wegener brought together several lines of evidence to support his theory of continental drift. One is quite simple — that the continents look like they could “fit” together, much like puzzle pieces that have drifted apart. Then, he noticed that when you put the continental puzzle pieces back together, other things started to fit.
What evidence did Alfred Wegener have?
Evidence of Continental. As a meteorologist Alfred Wegener was well aware of some climatological puzzles, such as the remains of temperate climate trees that can be found under polar ice. From this he began plotting world-wide distributions of both rock and fossil data that indicated tropic, desert and polar climates.