You will be able to: Explain the term ‘continental drift’ Name and describe the layers of the earth Explain what tectonic plates are, and why they move
Describe what happens when plates separate, collide or slide past each other.
1.1 Our Moving Continents
The earth did not always look like it does today. Over 250 million years ago, the continents were all connected as one large landmass, known as Pangaea . A German scientist, Alfred Wegener, studied the movement of the continents. In 1912, he proposed that, over time, the continents broke apart and moved. He called this process continental drift .
Pangaea
Continental drift Crust
Molten
Semi-molten Magma Mantle
Convection currents Core
Constructive Destructive
Oceanic plates
1. This image shows the position of our continents 90 million years ago. Can you identify any familiar locations? Why do you think that our planet looks quite different to this today?