Theory of Pangaea: In the early twentieth century, a scientist named Alfred Wegener noticed that, if you cut the continents out of a map, they would fit nicely together into one large super continent. He named this super continent, Pangaea. He predicted that Pangaea existed about 200 million years ago. Using that time period, he looked at what animals lived during that time and began to search for fossils on each continent. He was able to find fossils of the same kinds of animals on both continents where they would have been joined so his theory was supported. However, the best supporting evidence wasn’t found until the 1060’s. The idea of continental drift, where tectonic plates move around on Earth's mantle, explains how the continents have ended up in their current positions. Based on this information, which of the following is a true statement?
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Earth's tectonic plates have very slowly moved over a long period of time. They used to be pushed together in one large continent, called Pangaea, but over time, the continents drifted apart to where they are today. They are not likely to move any further apart or closer together over the next few million years because the process has stopped. Fossil evidence proves the continents were once pushed together.
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Earth's tectonic plates float around on the mantle because of convection currents. They used to be pushed together as one large continent, called Pangaea. Over millions of years, the continents have drifted apart to their current positions. One major piece of evidence to support this theory are the fossils found and the shapes of the continents that seem to fit like puzzle pieces. Over the next few million years, the continents will continue to drift apart in places and drift closer together in other places.
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Alfred Wegener figured out that Earth's tectonic plates were moving around and called the idea continental drift. He realized this process happens very quickly, so over the next hundred years or so, North America will probably be touching China because of the convergent plate boundary around the Pacific Ocean.
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Continental drift is the idea that explains how earth's continents have pushed together to their current positions, which is called Pangaea. Alfred Wegener was the person who proposed the idea that fossils change as the continents move around. By working with Charles Darwin, Alfred Wegener was able to figure out how Pangaea happened from convection currents by studying fossils.
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