Continental Drift Instruction Active Which statement correctly summarizes Wegener's theory of continental drift? All seven continents have always been in the same locations on Earth as they are today. Pangaea. Over tens of millions of years, the giant supercontinent Pangaea began to slowly drift apart, forming the onto the planet, it broke the giant supercontinent Pangaea into smaller landmasses. as they are known today.
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The Deep Dive
Alfred Wegener proposed that all continents were once part of a supercontinent called Pangaea, which existed around 335 million years ago. Over millions of years, Pangaea began to break apart, leading to the formation of the continents as we know them today. This theory was initially met with skepticism, but it laid the groundwork for modern plate tectonics. Wegener's work wasn't just science; it was a puzzle that involved bits of geology, paleontology, and climatology. For instance, he pointed out similarities in the fossil records of now-separated continents and how certain fossils, like those of the Mesosaurus, were found on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean! It wasn't until the advent of technology like sonar and satellite monitoring that his ideas gained the traction they deserved.