01:460:100 Lecture 3: Drifting continents and spreading seas

• School: Rutgers University
• Department: Geological Sciences
• Course: 01:460:100
• Professor: Mark Feigenson

Document Summary

Chapter 2 - drifting continents and spreading seas. Alfred wegner - challenged the concept that continents were fixed. Suggested that all the continents were once joined in one large landmass known as pangea. Subsequently, this had split apart and the continents drifted apart in a process referred to as the continental drift. Paleozoic (> 250 m. y old) glacial deposits present on different continents that are now far apart and not at the poles. End of glacial advance is marked by a terminal moraine. [image from the textbook earth: portrait of a planet by stephen marshak, figure 3. 3: the distribution of late. Paleoclimatic belts: climate information can be obtained from rocks. The similarity of fossils on southern continents that are now separated. Matching rock units - both type and age can be found on two continents that are nowhere close to each other. Paleomagnetism - the study of earth"s magnetic field in the past.