GEOLOGY

EARTH SCIENCE

TECTONICS

Question [CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
The matching coastlines of Africa and South America help support which theory?
A
Theory of evolution
B
Theory of gravity
C
Theory of supposition
D
Theory of continental drift
Explanation: 

Detailed explanation-1: -The theory deals with the distribution of the oceans and the continents. According to Wegener’s Continental Drift theory, all the continents were one single continental mass (called a Super Continent) – Pangaea and a Mega Ocean surrounded this supercontinent.

Detailed explanation-2: -Plate tectonics is the theory that Earth’s land masses are in constant motion. The realization that Earth’s land masses move was first proposed by Alfred Wegener, which he called continental drift.

Detailed explanation-3: -One piece of evidence Wegener provided was paleoclimatic indicators that linked South America and Africa (Plate Tectonics: Continental Drift). He noted that glacial, tropical rain forests, and desert deposits were aligned when the continents were placed together (Plate Tectonics: Continental Drift).

Detailed explanation-4: -Coastline Matching The similarity of coastlines for different continents suggests that they may once have been connected. But the fact that they were separated by sometimes thousands of miles suggested continental drift or plate tectonics .

Detailed explanation-5: -South America and Africa were once together, but were split apart by the formation of a diverging plate boundary. This is confirmed by matches between the rocks and fossils of the two continents. Plate motion, not continents drifting, explains this. The two continents are still moving away from each other today.

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