what is the theory of continental drift
Answers
Continental drift describes one of the earliest ways geologists thought continents moved over time. Today, the theory of continental drift has been replaced by the science of plate tectonics. The theory of continental drift is most associated with the scientist Alfred Wegener.
Answer:
Alfred Wegener 18801930 a German meteorologist and geologist, was the first person to propose the theory of continental drift. In his book, Origin of Continents and Oceans, he calculated that 200 million years ago the continents were originally joined together, forming large supercontinent. He named this supercontinent Pangaea, meaning All-earth.
The Earth's crust is not a single continuous layer. It is made up of a number of gigantic pieces like a huge jigsaw puzzle.
Each piece is called a crustal plate. Currents of molten rock rise up through the mantle like boiling water in a saucepan.
These form convection cells that drive the movement of the plates so that they are continuously moving away or towards each other. Geologically, the most important things happen at the plate boundaries, including most of the earthquakes, volcanoes, igneous rocks, major metamorphism, and mountain building processes.