Through the theory of continental drift, humans have been able to figure out how the earth’s crust moves and the causes of volcanoes, earthquakes, oceanic trenches, formation of mountain ranges and other geological occurrences. Continental drift also comes along with grave effects such as Volcanoes, Earthquakes, and Tsunamis. It has affected the global climate, the world’s geographical positions and the evolution of animals. However, the crust is never destroyed when plates move past one another horizontally at transform boundaries.Ĭontinental drift has impacted the universe in many ways. Destruction happens when one plate moves below the other at convergent boundaries. On the other hand, tectonic movement destroys crust during interaction of the plates. When plates drift away from each other, there is formation of new crust at divergent boundaries.
Over the course of millions of year ago, this gradual movement caused the once combined supercontinent to separate into 7 continents you witness in the present day.Īlmost all plate movement occurs in boundaries which lie between different plates. Heat coming from the interior of the earth triggers this movement to occur through convection currents inside the mantle. The earth’s outer shell is composed of plates that move a little bit every year. The causes of continental drift are perfectly explained by the plate tectonic theory. While making this claim, he had a collection of evidence to support it. The southern continent consists of South America, Antarctica, Australia, India, and Africa. Gondwanaland makes up the southern continents of today. The northern continent consists of Europe, North America, and Asia. Laurasia, makes up the northern continents of today. The supercontinent was surrounded by water bodies, mainly oceans, and seas.Īs a result of movement of the supercontinent, Pangaea split into two super landmasses namely Laurasia and Gondwanaland. In his proposal, he stated that the super content, which he named Pangaea, meaning ‘’all earth” once existed. Over time, the landmass broke and drifted away and is still drifting to this day. Wegener’s theory of continental drift states that the existing continents of the earth were once glued together forming a super landmass. However, would you believe if someone told you that these broken land masses were once connected to each other as one huge supercontinent? Well, this claim was made in the 90’s by Alfred Wegener, a German polar researcher, meteorologist and geophysicist who died in 1930. If you take a look at a map of the earth today, you will see the current locations of broken land masses that constitute the earth.
0 kommentar(er)
