Wegener's hypothesis was that all the observable continents bordering the Atlantic and Indian Oceans had once assembled into a single supercontinent that he named Pangaea. More importantly, the drift hypothesis was supported by similarities of fossils, rocks, and mountain belts on both sides of the Atlantic, as explained further below. The Continental Drift Hypothesis was based on observations that the continental coastlines on either side of the Atlantic Ocean seemed to match up. The Continental Drift Hypothesis was proposed by a German astronomer and meteorologist named Alfred Wegener (1880-1930), but based on research by other earlier observers. The Continental Drift Hypothesis was a prelude to the modern Plate Tectonics Theory. The Ring of Fire is a zone of volcanoes, numerous earthquakes, and offshore deep trenches. As we will see in the next chapter, the volcanoes of the Ring of Fire relate directly to Plate Tectonics Theory.įigure 3.26.

* Observations of the location of the world's volcanoes (maps) and lead to the recognition of the Ring of Fire (Figure 3.26). It took centuries before an organized effort started to analyze the data! Geographers preparing maps noted that charts of land masses that the shape continents of the world fit together like a jig-saw puzzle. These similarities were noted from early maps by by a Flemish cartographer named Abraham Ortelius in 1596 who first suggested that it looked like the continents had drifted apart. * Early Maps of the World: Maps compiled by early global explorations resulted in the observation of the matching shapes of the coastlines on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

Much of the background work related to the modern theory is the culmination of hundreds of years of world-wide exploration and geologic observations that go back several centuries. Historical Observations leading up to Plate Tectonics Theory

Historical Observations leading up to Plate Tectonics Theory.

Abraham ortelius theory