Alfred Wegener on the Continental Drift
Who is the scientist who did much of the early work on continental drift?
In the early 20th century, German scientist Alfred Wegener published a book explaining his theory that the continental landmasses, far from being immovable, were drifting across the Earth.
What evidence did this scientist have to support his idea of continental drift?
Wegener noticed that the continents seemed to fit together, not at the continuously changing shoreline, but at the edge to their continental shelves. He derived this hypothesis from the observation that the continents in the southern hemisphere exhibit an identical pattern of rock and fossils known as the "Goodwin sequence". The most logical explanation was that the continents themselves were once parts of a much larger "super-continent" which was named Pangaea. A second idea supporting movement of the continents was the glacial till deposits in the southern hemisphere. With the continents in their present positions, the till deposits indicate erratic glacier motion. When the continents are fitted together, they show a much more streamlined motion of the glacier from southern Africa and Northern Australia outward.
Why was the idea of continental drift not initially accepted by many other scientists and the general public at the time?
Since his ideas challenged scientists in geology, geophysics, zoogeography and paleontology, it demonstrates the reactions of different communities of scientists. The reactions by the leading authorities in the different disciplines was so strong and so negative that serious discussion of the concept stopped.
What happened to change people’s views and lead them to believe in continental drift?
In spite of the criticisms from several different disciplines Wegener was able to keep Continental Drift part of the discussion until his death. He knew that any argument based simply on the jigsaw fit of the continents could easily be explained away as a coincidence. To strengthen his
In the early 20th century, German scientist Alfred Wegener published a book explaining his theory that the continental landmasses, far from being immovable, were drifting across the Earth.
What evidence did this scientist have to support his idea of continental drift?
Wegener noticed that the continents seemed to fit together, not at the continuously changing shoreline, but at the edge to their continental shelves. He derived this hypothesis from the observation that the continents in the southern hemisphere exhibit an identical pattern of rock and fossils known as the "Goodwin sequence". The most logical explanation was that the continents themselves were once parts of a much larger "super-continent" which was named Pangaea. A second idea supporting movement of the continents was the glacial till deposits in the southern hemisphere. With the continents in their present positions, the till deposits indicate erratic glacier motion. When the continents are fitted together, they show a much more streamlined motion of the glacier from southern Africa and Northern Australia outward.
Why was the idea of continental drift not initially accepted by many other scientists and the general public at the time?
Since his ideas challenged scientists in geology, geophysics, zoogeography and paleontology, it demonstrates the reactions of different communities of scientists. The reactions by the leading authorities in the different disciplines was so strong and so negative that serious discussion of the concept stopped.
What happened to change people’s views and lead them to believe in continental drift?
In spite of the criticisms from several different disciplines Wegener was able to keep Continental Drift part of the discussion until his death. He knew that any argument based simply on the jigsaw fit of the continents could easily be explained away as a coincidence. To strengthen his