Alfred Wegener originally proposed the theory of continental drift in 1912, which explained that continents shift positions on Earth's surface over geological time. However, the theory was rejected by the scientific community at the time due to a lack of evidence. Wegener gathered evidence that the continents had moved around, including how the continents fit together, matching fossil and rock distributions between continents, and correlated ancient climate zones. The theory was finally accepted in the 1960s when the theory of plate tectonics was introduced and provided a mechanism for continental drift.

1. Continental Drift
Hassan Fouani
Theo Touma
9H

2. What is
continental drift?
CONTINENTAL DRIFT WAS
A REVOLUTIONARY
THEORY EXPLAINING
THAT CONTINENTS SHIFT
POSITION ON EARTH'S
SURFACE. THE THEORY
WAS PROPOSED BY
GEOPHYSICIST AND
METEOROLOGIST ALFRED
WEGENER IN 1912 BUT
WAS REJECTED BY
MAINSTREAM SCIENCE AT
THE TIME.

3. Who is Alfred
Wegner?
ALFRED LOTHAR WEGENER
WAS A GERMAN
CLIMATOLOGIST,
GEOLOGIST, GEOPHYSICIST,
METEOROLOGIST, AND
POLAR RESEARCHER.
DURING HIS LIFETIME HE
WAS PRIMARILY KNOWN
FOR HIS ACHIEVEMENTS IN
METEOROLOGY AND AS A
PIONEER OF POLAR
RESEARCH, BUT TODAY HE
IS MOST REMEMBERED AS
THE ORIGINATOR OF
CONTINENTAL DRIFT

4. Why and by who was the
theory of continental drift
rejected by?
As late as 1953—just five years before Carey introduced the theory of plate tectonics —the
theory of continental drift was rejected by the physicist Scheidegger on the following grounds.
First, it had been shown that floating masses on a rotating geoid would collect at the equator
and stay there
.

5. Evidence
supporting the
theory?
ALFRED WEGENER
GATHERED EVIDENCE
THAT THE CONTINENTS
HAD MOVED AROUND ON
EARTH’S SURFACE. THE
EVIDENCE FOR
CONTINENTAL DRIFT
INCLUDED THE FIT OF
THE CONTINENTS; THE
DISTRIBUTION OF
ANCIENT FOSSILS,
ROCKS, AND MOUNTAIN
RANGES; AND THE
LOCATIONS OF ANCIENT
CLIMATE ZONES.