GEOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Remains of Mesosaurus, a freshwater crocodile-like reptile that lived during the early Permian (between 286 and 258 million years ago), are found solely in Southern Africa and Eastern South America. It would have been physiologically impossible for Mesosaurus to swim between the continents.

Detailed explanation-2: -Scientists have found fossils of similar types of plants and animals in rocks of similar age. These rocks were on the shores of different continents. This suggests that the continents were once joined. For example, fossils of Mesosaurus, a freshwater reptile, have been found both in Brazil and western Africa.

Detailed explanation-3: -Evidence for Tectonic Plates Earthquakes, mountain building and volcanic activity occur mostly at the boundaries of the moving plates. Only shallow earthquakes occur where plates diverge at mid-ocean ridges, whereas earthquakes extend to great depth where plates converge at subduction zones.

Detailed explanation-4: -Theory of Plate Tectonics was established by Alfred Wegener. Fossils and Mountain ranges were his evidences. Alfred Wegener created the idea of continental drift and wrote ‘The Origin of Continents and Oceans’ to support his idea.

Detailed explanation-5: -Plate tectonics is considered a “unifying theory” in the field of geology because it synthesizes the work and theories of most other areas of geology (Oreskes and LeGrand 2003). The generation of mountains, deep-sea trenches, volcanic chains, island arcs, and rift valleys can be explained by plate motions.