Question

Write a note on the continental drift theory.

Answer 1

Instruction:
Introduce the person behind this theory(1M)
Write down the key features of his postulate(4M)

Solution:

• The continental drift theory was postulated by a German meteorologist and geophysicist Alfred Wagener to describe and partially explain the present arrangement of continents and ocean basins.
• He postulated that a massive supercontinent, named Pangaea existed 220 million years ago.
• According to Wegener, Pangea broke into sections that drifted apart. The two sections were as follows:

1. Laurensia which consists of present North America, Greenland, and all of Eurasia north of Indian subcontinent.
2. Gondwana-land which contains South America, Africa, Madagascar, India, Arabia, Malaysia, East Indies, Australia and Antarctica.

• These two blocks were separated by a long shallow inland sea called the Tethys Sea.