Table of Contents
- 1 Who developed the continental drift hypothesis and when?
- 2 What evidence supported the hypothesis of continental drift?
- 3 How did Harry Hess and Frederick vine support Wegener’s theory?
- 4 What key evidence supports the hypothesis of continental drift?
- 5 Why was the theory of continental drift not accepted first?
Who developed the continental drift hypothesis and when?
Alfred Wegener
The continental drift hypothesis was developed in the early part of the 20th century, mostly by Alfred Wegener. Wegener said that continents move around on Earth’s surface and that they were once joined together as a single supercontinent.
What is the continental drift hypothesis?
Continental drift is the hypothesis that the Earth’s continents have moved over geologic time relative to each other, thus appearing to have “drifted” across the ocean bed. The speculation that continents might have ‘drifted’ was first put forward by Abraham Ortelius in 1596.
What evidence supported the hypothesis of continental drift?
The evidence for continental drift included the fit of the continents; the distribution of ancient fossils, rocks, and mountain ranges; and the locations of ancient climatic zones.
Who discovered Pangaea?
meteorologist Alfred Wegener
German meteorologist Alfred Wegener first presented the concept of Pangea (meaning “all lands”) along with the first comprehensive theory of continental drift, the idea that Earth’s continents slowly move relative to one another, at a conference in 1912 and later in his book The Origin of Continents and Oceans (1915).
How did Harry Hess and Frederick vine support Wegener’s theory?
Alfred Wegener produced evidence in 1912 that the continents are in motion, but because he could not explain what forces could move them, geologists rejected his ideas. Almost 50 years later Harry Hess confirmed Wegener’s ideas by using the evidence of seafloor spreading to explain what moved continents.
Who first proposed the theory of continental drift?
Alfred Wegener proposed the theory of continental drift at the beginning of the 20th century. His idea was that the Earth’s continents were once joined together, but gradually… moved apart over millions of years. The idea was rejected at first as he was a Meteorologist and not regarded as a proper scientist.
What key evidence supports the hypothesis of 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. Grooves and rock deposits left by ancient glaciers are found today on different continents very close to the equator.
Who is the scientist that first suggested continental drift?
Wegener was the first to use the phrase “continental drift” (1912, 1915) (in German “die Verschiebung der Kontinente” – translated into English in 1922) and formally publish the hypothesis that the continents had somehow “drifted” apart.
Why was the theory of continental drift not accepted first?
The first reason was that his theory of continental drift was just too weak for most geologists to accept. Even though he believed the supercontinent that broke up into different continents moved, he did not have a clear explanation to how the continents moved. The other reason is that some of his explanation clashed with ideas that were widely accepted in the science communities.