Academic Ninth Grade Science; Evidence to Support Continental Drift

Introduction:Continental Drift is a theory that suggests that the present day continents were once joined into a large landmass and have since broken apart and moved across the face of the Earth. Many scientists have debated for and against this theory. Yet, the theory still stands as a possible idea for explaining many features on the Earth. As a large piece of evidence in support of the Theory of Continental Drift, scientists have studied “Far Flung Fossils” which exist with little explanation on distant continents.

Today, you will take a trip around the world, through time, just as Alfred Wegener did. On your journey, you will visit South America, Africa, Australia, Antarctica, and India. There, you will fit together the “Puzzle of the Continents” for four different times in geologic history using the fossils and glacier evidence that you can find.

Objective:To use information from Earth’s history to explore Continental Drift

Hypothesis: If______

Then: ______

Procedure:

Observe the RED sedimentary rock layer first. This is the oldest and represents historical information for the Earth approximately 300 million years ago, during what we now call the Coal Age.
On your maps, draw the arrangement of the land for this time period. In the key, indicate the evidence you used and mark each land piece you drew to indicate their relationships.
Observe the YELLOW sedimentary rock layer next. This layer represents historical information for the Earth approximately 200 million years ago. Today, we refer to this as the Early Age of Reptiles.
On your maps, draw the arrangement of the land for this time period. In the key, indicate the evidence you used and mark each land piece you drew to indicate their relationships.
Observe the GREEN sedimentary rock layer next. These rocks are about his is the 100 million years ago, existing during the Late Age of the Dinosaurs.
On your maps, draw the arrangement of the land for this time period. In the key, indicate the evidence you used and mark each land piece you drew to indicate their relationships.
Observe the BLUE sedimentary rock layer LAST. This layer represents the Earth as it appears today.
On your maps, draw the arrangement of the land for this time period. In the key, indicate any evidence you used and mark each land piece you drew to indicate their relationships.
Use the space below to answer each question in complete sentences.

Analysis Questions:

1.List and explain 3 types of evidence you used to assemble the continents for each time period.

2.Two species of living earthworms in the soils of southern South America and Africa are very closely related (members of the same genus). They could not have traveled across the Atlantic Ocean, yet they are on opposite sides. How do these earthworms help support the theory of continental drift strengthened?

Observe the black arrows on the red continent maps (left). These represent grooves in the rocks, carved by traveling continental glaciers about 300 million years ago. The arrows point in the direction that the glacier moved. A glacier moves outward from a center point. It grows and travels, dragging rocks along the way.

3.Suppose you were the first person to have found the glacial grooves in southeastern South America. Place an X on the map above to show were the glacier probably began.

4. Why are glacier grooves in these countries so puzzling given their locations today?

How do the grooves left by the glacier help to reinforce the idea that the continents were joined?

6.Examine the animals that currently live on the continents of South America, Africa, India, and Australia. These living animals are native on their continent. Each eats insects, and is a major ant/termite eater among all the mammals there. Each species belongs to a different order of mammals. These four mammals are very distantly related, even though each is highly specialized for eating ants and/or termites. Explain in terms of continental drift and evolution how four very different kinds of ant/termite eaters could occur in India, Africa, South America, and Australia. (Remember, the Age of Mammal began on Earth after dinosaurs became extinct about 65 million years ago)

Conclusion: Please write a short essay (5-paragraph format) describing how the Far Flung Fossil activity shows continental drift. You should be able to explain a minimum of 3 types of evidence supporting continental drift from this activity. You may use an additional sheet of paper to construct your essay.

Collect data from the continents of Gondwanaland that are scattered around the room. Be sure to list the locations of the different types of plants and animals and the geologic features found on the continents during each time period.

Time
(Years Ago) / Time (Era, etc.) / Africa / Antarctica / Australia / India / South America
Present Day
100 Million Years Ago
200 Million Years Ago
300 Million Years Ago