1. Tanya Gandhi
8E Humanities
Time Traveling Alfred Wegener
I, Alfred Wegener have a theory that continental drift exists and the Earth was once, one big
landmass. But no one in this science community believes me and I am going to prove them wrong
with the aid of my time machine. Most scientists would just say that there used to be huge land
bridges that have now sunken which joined the continents together. Although, I noticed many
geological features and similarities in continents spread apart by great oceans which couldn’t have
just been coincidence or turned up there.I can’t prove my theory now(1912) when I have very little
access to evidence to help me, so I will travel forward in time to collect scientifically proved evidence.
During my journey, in the 1960’s I discovered that the plate tectonics
theory is why continents drifted apart. The theory has to do with the movement of
plates underneath the crust of the Earth. The plate movements can be divided into
groups of, the process of subduction (convergent) and divergent and
transformation of boundaries. Subduction is when a heavier plate goes over a
thinner plate while coming together to form volcanoeswith
consequently splits continents apart. Divergent boundaries
takes place when two continental plates move apart and a
sinkhole is created which then splits up the continent. Although when two
oceanic plates move apart from
each together magma comes
through and creates small islands.
For example, Hawaii was never there at first but came up
after a long period of time had passed (the process of
magma to rise up and cool down to create land is very
long).
First I had thought that the drifting took place because of the Earth’s rotation, but obviously
I was wrong. You can’t see the process of plate tectonics taking place, so to prove it further I tried to
find solid evidence.
Going through the years in the 1960’s I found 6 pieces of evidence. The jigsaw fit of the
continents is my first solid proof. When I first looked at the coastlines of Africa and South America
and tried to fit them together like I was fitting together a jigsaw puzzle, they fit almost perfectly
together.And in the ancient years, it has been found out that when the continents were actually one
big continent, they called it Pangaea (Greek for ‘All of the Earth).
The rock sequences are also something that I observed and
researchedon to prove this theory. In Africa and South America the
rocks show the same kinds of graining patterns and their rock areas are
also the same age. When you move the continents to form Pangaea,
the rock areas come together and form one large sort of strip that goes
from Africa all the way to South America. Paleomagenetism study of
science can also prove that. When the risen hot magma cools down
and becomes land or rock, minerals get magnetized with the Earth’s
magnetic field (especially magnetite). Rocks get formed at different places on different places in

2. Tanya Gandhi
8E Humanities
Earth which make them have different magnetizations. When those are looked at with their
magnetizations it didn’t agree with the Earths position at this point. In 1912, people would say that
maybe Earth’s magnetic poles wondered, but now it can help
prove the continental drift theory.
This third piece of evidence which I found is small,
but important; the diamond patterns. The size of the
diamonds starting on the Western South American
coastline steadily increased further east as you would go.
But on the Eastern coastline is stopped and picked right up
from Africa steadily increasing again towards the East.
Between Africa and South America there’s the giant
Atlantic Ocean, so if the continents weren’t together before how can the diamonds steadily
in a pattern increase over an ocean?
Mountain ranges are the fourth evidence proving continental drift. The Caledonian
mountain range in North America and Europe, opposite to the theory claimed that its range was so
wide that the middle of it was under the ocean. But I objected. A mountain range cannot be so wide;
it had to have been torn apart when the continents spilt. Another example is that the Appalachian
mountains of Eastern North America matched up with the Scottish Highlands with the whole ocean
splitting them.
Glacier Regions play a role in continental drift by the comparison in climate difference
between in the past and now in the present. Now, when
the continents are apart, glaciers can be found in hot, dry
regions and places where it would have had to slide up and
out of the ocean and form on the land; which is impossible
(showing an erratic motion). After marking all of the
glaciated regions and putting them together, the glaciers
made an ice cap (shows more of a streamlined motion from
South Africa and North Australia outwards). If, glaciers
were to be in the past like they are now, it would mean that the whole world was under ice
(sedimentary rock showed a change in climate).
Lastly, fossils of plants and animals are the strongest evidence proving my theory yet.
Where fossils are found indicate the climate of
that place, and the climate of fossils found is
completely different. The fossils of tropical plants
such as ferns and cycads are found on the Artic
Island of Spitsbergen and the fossils of a
freshwater reptile which is like a crocodile called
Mesosaurus’ remains have been found in Africa
and South America. So if thehabitats aren’t
connected it would mean that a coastal animal
which is really small would have to swim across
the ocean. If it could do that then it could have swam to any other place, but it didn’t. The
continents had to be together.

3. Tanya Gandhi
8E Humanities
The study of geology, geography, plant biology and
animal biology over future years proves with strong
evidence that continental drift exists and the world was
first one big continent millions and millions of years
ago.This split into two masses at first called Laurasia and
Gondwana Land during the Jurassic Period (206-144
million years ago) and in the Creataceous Period (144-65
million years ago) broke up into more and more masses of
land. Traveling to the year 2011, the world has seven
magnificent continents.
 Work cited on next page

4. Tanya Gandhi
8E Humanities
Works Cited
“Alfred Wegener.” UCMP.Berkeley. Edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Sept. 2011.
<http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/wegener.html>.
Bugielski, Monica. “The Supporting Evidence of Plate Tectonic Theory.”Stockton.Edu. The Richard
Stockton College of New Jersey, n.d. Web. 5 Sept. 2011. <http://www.stockton.edu/
~hozikm/geol/Courses/The%20Earth/Content%20Web%20Pages/Bugielski/webpage.htm>.
“Continental Drift.”Wikipedia Online Encylopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 2011. Web. 5 Sept.
2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_drift>.
“Continental Drift - Evidence.” History of the Universe. Penny Press Ltd, 2010. Web. 5 Sept. 2011.
<http://www.historyoftheuniverse.com/cdevidence.html>.
“Continental Drift- Paleontology and Geology.”Enchanted Learning.N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Sept. 2011.
<http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/glossary/Contdrift.shtml>.
“Evidence for Continental Drift.”Woodlawn School.Sammy & Riley Productions, 2004.Web. 5 Sept.
2011. <http://www.woodlawnschool.org/8science/cont_evidence.html>.
Ramroop, Tara, et al. “Continental Drift.” National Geographic.N.p., 2010. Web. 5 Sept. 2011.
<http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/encyclopedia/continental-drift/>.
Kusky, Timothy M. Earthquakes: plate tectonics and earthquake hazards. N.p., 2008. Web. 5 Sept.
2011.