What has this
got to do with
today’s lesson?
Tectonics
Tectonics
Tectonics
Tectonics What are PLATE TECTONICS?
Continental Drift
In 1912, a German scientist called
Alfred Wegener proposed that South
America and Africa were once joined
together and had subsequently moved
apart.
He believed that all the continents
were once joined together as one big
land mass called Pangaea and this was
intact until about 200 million years
ago.
The idea that continents are slowly
shifting their positions is called
continental drift.
Tectonics What are PLATE TECTONICS?
Continental Drift
Tectonics What are PLATE TECTONICS?
Continental Drift – The Evidence
Study of fossils
Similar fossils are found on different
continents. This is evidence that these
regions were once very close or joined
together.
Pattern of rocks
Similar pattern of rock layers on
different continents is evidence that
the rocks were once close together or
joined.
Shapes of continents
Some continents fit together like a
jigsaw.
Africa
South
America
Tectonics What are PLATE TECTONICS?
Continental Drift – Why Do They Move?
Convection Currents control the movement of the plates. They make the
Earth’s crust move in different directions.
Tectonics
Plate Boundaries
North
American
Eurasian
Pacific
Pacific
African
Nazca
South
American
Indo-Australian
Plate
Antarctic
Tectonics
Plate Boundaries
North
American
Eurasian
Pacific
Pacific
African
Nazca
South
American
Indo-Australian
Plate
Antarctic
Tectonics
Plate Boundaries
North
American
Eurasian
Pacific
Pacific
African
Nazca
South
American
Indo-Australian
Plate
Antarctic
Tectonics
Plate Boundaries
North
American
Eurasian
Pacific
Pacific
African
Nazca
South
American
Indo-Australian
Plate
Antarctic
Tectonics
Plate Boundaries
Eurasian
North
American
Pacific
African
Pacific
Indo-
Nazca
Australian
South
American
Plate
Antarctic