Lab Activity: Creating Pangaea--Continental Drift

Background: According to Alfred Wegener’s theory of continental drift, the continents once formed one landmass named Pangaea, meaning all lands. Wegener also hypothesized that about 200 million years ago, Pangaea began breaking into smaller continents, which eventually drifted to their present day positions. In this activity you will reconstruct Pangaea and examine the evidence that led Wegener to his theory.

Objective: Reconstruct a model of Pangaea and examine the evidence that led to Wegener’s theory of continental drift.

Materials: construction paper, textbook, scissors, paste, cutouts of continents

Procedure:

  1. Cut out the continents
  2. On a piece of construction paper paste the continents in Wegener’s arrangement of Pangaea. Consider all the evidence that supports Wegener’s theory when you paste the continents in their positions (use p. 250 of your text as a reference)
  3. Next: On your constructed model of Pangaea do the following:

Draw in the equator through the center of your landmass

Label Pangaea and Panthalassa

Find out where the Appalachian Mountains are in the United States. Using a colored pencil, draw in the mountain range and extend it into Greenland and Eurasia (Claedonia Mountains)

Using a different colored pencil, draw and label a picture of mesosaurus on the eastern coast of South America and the western coast of Africa

Using another color, mark striations /// (glacial evidence) in India, South Africa, Austrialia and southwestern South America

Using another color, draw a fern symbol and label glossopteris on Africa, Australia, India, South America, and Anarctica

Create a symbol for coal and place that in West Virginia area of the US.

Put the date on your map in which Pangaea existed

  1. Create a key for your symbols

Analysis Questions

  1. Which two continents have the best fit?
  1. For the best arrangement, which continent forms the core of Pangaea?
  1. Which continent is now part of Eurasia but, according to theory, was originally a separate continent that moved northward into its present position?
  1. Why isn’t the fit perfect if the continents were once part of Pangaea? How can we explain the overlaps and large gaps? Suggest as least two reasons.
  1. Scientists theorize that the continents are still drifting apart. What will be the eventual position of North America with respect to Eurasia?
  1. How did the Atlantic Ocean form?
  1. If the continents were once connected, what might be similar about the coastlines where they were connected?
  1. Where was the east coast of the United States situated during Pangaea? What evidence exists today that supports this position?
  1. After plotting the glacial evidence outlined in your text, what conclusion might you draw?
  1. Explain how each piece of evidence supports Wegener’s theory of continental drift.