Question

Create a timeline of events related to the continental drift hypothesis. Your timeline should span the years from 1912 to the present, starting with the first evidence that inspired the continental drift hypothesis, and ending with the most recent discoveries and technologies of the theories of plate tectonics and seafloor spreading. Include at least 10 important dates that focus on scientific evidence supporting the theories, other scientists’ findings, technologies that promoted the process, scientific viewpoints that did not support the hypothesis, and other important information that led to our understanding of Earth’s moving plates.

Answer 1

The outlines of the continents flanking the Atlantic Ocean are so similar that their correspondence was apparent as soon as accurate maps became available. The earliest references to this similarity were made in 1596 by Flemish cartographer Abraham Ortelius and later in 1620 by the English philosopher Francis Bacon, in his book Novum Organum, and by French naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, count de Buffon, a century later. Toward the end of the 18th century, Alexander von Humboldt, a German naturalist, suggested that the lands bordering the Atlantic Ocean had once been joined.