EAR 110 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Continental Drift, Rock Magnetism, Geographical Pole
Document Summary
Wrote the origins of oceans and continents in 1915. He suggested land masses slowly move (continental drift) All of the parts of the world fit together. The face of earth had not changed throughout time. Wegener proposed ideas that were radical at the time. The continental shelf edges make a better fit (bullard, 1965) Glacial evidence of past (permian age) glaciers found on four continents. Some evidence found in regions that are too warm for glaciers today. Plotted on a map of pangaea, glacial deposits converge. If the southern part of pangaea was over the permian south pole: The northern part of pangaea was over the equator. These organisms could not have crossed an ocean. Wegener could not explain how or why continents moved. Proposed that earth"s spin caused the continents to plow through the ocean floor. Wegener"s faulty hypothesis was highly criticized data was correct but hypothesis about how and why was wrong.