PRESENTATION OUTLINE
THIS IS A PHOTO OF PANGAEA .
FACTS
- Pangaea was the first ever continent
- It was made about 300 million years ago
- More than a century ago, the scientist Alfred Wegener proposed the notion of an ancient supercontinent, which he named Pangaea (sometimes spelled Pangea), after putting together several lines of evidence.
HOW PANGAEA WAS FORMED. AND HOW IT BROKE UP
Pangaea formed through a gradual process spanning a few hundred million years. Beginning about 480 million years ago, a continent called Laurentia, which includes parts of North America, merged with several other micro-continents to form Euramerica. Euramerica eventually collided with Gondwana, another supercontinent that included Africa, Australia, South America and the Indian subcontinent.
About 200 million years ago, the supercontinent began to break up. Gondwana (what is now Africa, South America, Antarctica, India and Australia) first split from Laurasia (Eurasia and North America). Then about 150 million years ago, Gondwana broke up. India peeled off from Antarctica, and Africa and South America rifted, according to a 1970 article in the Journal of Geophysical Research. Around 60 million years ago, North America split off from Eurasia.
From livescience.com :)
WHY WOULD SCIENTIST THINK THAT?
One hint for scientist was that fossils were found in Pennsilvania and Germany.
Another hint was also that Alfred Wagner saw that some continents looked like they could fit together like a puzzle
He then proposed the idea to a board meeting. Everyone was shocked. This idea had never occurred to anyone.
He then started telling everyone about his grand vision of all of the continents fitting together like a puzzle.
He then worked on the idea of continental drifts. And tectonic plates. He needed to have the facts for such a radical idea.
