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Essay / How continental drift works
Continental drift is a movement of the earth's continents. Continental drift has demonstrated how continents change position on the Earth's surface. It was discovered and developed at the beginning of the 20th century. The continents are joined together to form a single supercontinent. Additionally, continents sit on rocky plates called tectonic plates. The term "plate" refers to large, rigid blocks of an Earth's surface that move together. The theory of plate tectonics is the Earth's outer shell divided into several different plates that perform continuous, fluid movement on the mantle. All the plates always remain in motion and interacting. Even today, continental drift continues to move around the world. Evidence for/and arguments against this theory: Some arguments against the continental drift theory were the lack of discourse on the theory of the mechanism and how it works. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay “Scientists have not accepted Wegener's theory of continental drift. One of the things that was missing from the theory was the mechanism of how it worked: why did the continents drift and what patterns did they follow? (National Geographic). On the other hand, people thought that some of Alfred Wegener's theories were not well thought out or were incorrect. For example: “Most of Wegener's observations about fossils and rocks were correct, but he was dead wrong on a few key points. For example, Wegener thought that the continents might have broken through the oceanic crust like icebreakers smashing through the ice. (Live Science)Paleomagnetism: The study of geophysics based on the Earth's magnetic field involving: magnetism, sediments and archaeological materials. This gives us the ability to predict the direction of the magnetic field at any time located on the Earth's surface. Additionally, the discovery of paleomagnetism in rocks was studied in the 1960s. Rock Deformation: Rocks deform when the Earth's crust is compressed or stretched. There is compression and tension. Tension occurs when tectonic plates have the ability to move away from each other, which then allows the crust to appear thinner and longer. The rocks become faulted and create different rift valleys. Additionally, compression occurs when tectonic plates are pushed together and make the crust thicker and shorter, creating mountain ranges. Scientists who formulated the theory of continental drift: Alfred Wegener, was a geologist who formulated the theory of the continental drift hypothesis. His first hypothesis was presented in 1912. Additionally, Wegener studied the stratigraphy of different rock chains and mountain ranges. » Wegener believed that all continents were once joined together in an "urban continent" before breaking apart and drifting to their current positions. But geologists strongly denounced Wegener's theory of continental drift after he published the details in a 1915 book titled "The Origin of Continents and Oceans." (Science Live). Frank Taylor is another scientist who was involved in the theory of continental drift. He was an American geologist and contributed to the theory of continental drift with Alfred Wegener. Plate Interactions: Basic Boundaries: Divergent Plate Boundary: When two tectonic plates begin to separate and move apart on the other. A mid-ocean ridge forms from magma and the sea floor.