What evidence was used to support Pangaea?

Answer 1

Wegener noticed several things about the land masses on the Earth. The first being that some land masses are shaped like the pieces of a jigsaw, Africa's West coast mirroring South America's East coast for example. He looked at the rock layers in these countries and found that the rock layers were the same too. He then looked at the fossils found in the rock and found that they were the same early on in the fossil record but later changed and became more and more different. (He knew that the animals found in these countries were different in the present day.) He was intrigued as his findings would mean that the landmasses were once joined together and had later split apart into there present locations. He started to look for the fossils of tropical climate animals and plants in present day cold climate latitudes and found them. He concluded this was evidence that the land masses had moved over time.

His ideas were not well received as there was no clear way whole continents could move. The science community scoffed at his ideas as it was logically ridiculous that whole continents could move without some huge energy source to drive it. That was until the 1960's and the discovery of the mid-Atlantic ridge a series of volcanoes under the sea which are spewing out new rock a phenomenon known as ocean floor spreading. The movement of the continents is due to convection currents in the mantle driven by nuclear fusion reactions which were unheard of in Wegener's time.

Answer 2

Because scientists have found fossils of the same animals and plants on two different continents, for example, Africa and South America. Today those continents have two, very different climates in which an animal couldn't have survived in both. But if the continents were connected, then their climates would be the same :)

Answer 3

There are none. The Pangaea theory is based on lies. Cut out a world map and you will know what i am taking about. They don't fit! It was made up and it is pure amagenation. They tell you that they find the same fossiles on both sides but they don't tell you that the foosiles are found all over the world...

Answer 4

There are 4 supporting pieces of evidence to the Pangea Theory.

They are:

1)Continental Coastlines Appearing to fit together,

2)Fossil Distribution,

3)Distinctive Rock Strata

4)Coal Distribution.

(SOURCE----http://library.thinkquest.org/17701/high/pangaea/index.html)

5) Also you can go to the wikipedia article.

Answer 5

All the continents fit together perfectly, the similarities of fossils on separate continents, and the mountain ranges of different continents line up when the continents are placed together like a puzzle

Answer 6

All of the Continents fit together like a puzzle, some same fossils were found in similar areas and there were deserts in places like Antarctica and others where it is cold.

Answer 7

every continent if put together forms a giant puzzel and the same species of plants and animals were found spread out among the coninent

Answer 8

The continents' shapes fit together well, and some continents have the same fossils.

Answer 9

they fit together like a jigsaw puzzle