THE CONTINENTAL DRIFT THEORY

THE CONTINENTAL DRIFT THEORY
The idea of the lateral movement of the continents was first mooted by the famous German geographer Prof. Alfred Wegener in his book ” Die Entstehung der Kontinete und Ozeane in 1915, in German. The English translation of this book was published in 1924- ” The Origin Of Continents And Ocean.”

The Continental Drift Theory was propounded by prof. Alfred Wegener. The theory says that the present-day continents can be joined together like a jig-saw puzzle to form a single landmass. The landmass was named as the Pangea. The Pangea came into existence during the Permian Era i.e 250 million years ago. This huge landmass was like an island floating on a vast water body. Wegener named the water body the Panthalassa. About 200 million years ago, the island broke into two parts and started to drift apart in north and south directions. According to Wegener the forces which were responsible for breaking and drifting movement were- the Differential Gravitational force, the Force of Buoyancy and the Tidal force of the Moon and the Sun.



ANGARALAND/ LAURENTIA AND GONDWANA LAND– The landmass that was moving towards the north were called the Angaraland/Laurentia and that was moving towards the south was called the Gondwana land. The drifting between these two landmasses resulted in a space that was filled by a narrow shallow water body called the Tethys Sea, the ancestor of the Mediterranean Sea. During the Jurassic Period, disruption occurred in the Gondwana land and South America, Africa, Peninsular India, Australia and Madagascar came into existence. Peninsular India drifted towards the north, led to the opening of the Indian Ocean. The Himalayas and the Alpines were formed due to the northward movement of peninsular India and Africa. The disruption occurred in the Angaraland and North America, Europe and Asia came into existence. The westward drift of the north and south America led to the opening of the Atlantic ocean. The westward movement of these two landmasses led to the formation of the Andes and the Rockies. Present-day Antarctica and the Pacific ocean are the residual parts of the Pangea and the Panthalassa.



EVIDENCE IN SUPPORT OF THE CONTINENTAL DRIFT THEORY
  • JUXTAFIX OF CONTINENTS
  • STRUCTURAL SIMILARITIES
  • SIMILARITY IN FOSSILS
  • MOUNTAIN RANGES
  • COAL DEPOSITS.

Madhvendra Mishra

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