Continental Drift
Introduction
In this week’s assignment we are asked to discuss the life and research of Alfred Wegener. Second we will discuss why Alfred Wegener had difficulty getting his ideas accepted and why his hypothesis encountered such harsh criticism. Then finally discuss why Alfred Wegener used fossilized organisms like Glossopteris and Mesosaurus (land organisms) to support his hypothesis.
Alfred Wegener Let us start off this assignment by getting to know a little about Alfred Wegener. Alfred Lothar Wegener one of five children and was born in Berlin, Germany, on November 1, 1880 (Healey, Christina, Alfred Wegener, 2006). Going up in Germany Wegener had a very close relationship with his older brother and they both shared the …show more content…
To start let us look in simple terms what Wegener’s hypothesis was, he proposed that the continents had once been joined and over time they had drifted apart (Scientus.org, 2014). This may seem like a very simple idea that should not cause to much trouble but this simple idea that Wegener proposed challenged the thoughts to be held true at that time in the fields of geology, geophysics, zoogeography, and paleontology (Scientus.org, 2014). The harsh reaction to Wegener’s hypothesis can best be seen in a quote from geologist R. Thomas Chamberlain “If we are to believe in Wegener’s hypothesis we must forget everything which has been learned in the past 70 years and start all over again” (Scientus.org, 2014). Wegener also received great criticism for his hypothesis because it was incomplete/flawed, he could not fully explained what drove the continental drift to occur (Scientus.org, …show more content…
As part of his hypothesis of a mega continent he discovered research papers on fossils supporting his theory that Africa and South America had once been connected by the continetsize (Hughes, Patrick, 1998). These studies cited as evidence fossils of identical land animals that had lived in both areas simultaneously hundreds of millions of years ago (Hughes, Patrick, 1998). One such fossilized land organism that added credibility to Wegener’s theory was that of the Mesosaurus a small fresh water aquatic reptile from the Permain period about 260 million years ago in what is now eastern South America and southwestern Africa (Lutgens, F., Tarbuck, E., Tasa, D., 2014). Wegener asserted that South America and Africa must have been joined during that period of history because fossils of Mesosaurus are limited to the those regions and if Mesosaurus had been able to make the long journey across the South Atlantic, it’s fossils would likely be more widely distributed (Lutgens, F., Tarbuck, E., Tasa, D., 2014). Wegener also cited research evidence of fossil seed fern Glossopteris as evidence of Pangea (Lutgens, F., Tarbuck, E., Tasa, D., 2014). Research showed that Glossopteris leaves and seeds were too large to have been spread great distances by the wind but it is known by fossils to have been widely dispersed among Africa, Australia, India, and South America
Introduction
In this week’s assignment we are asked to discuss the life and research of Alfred Wegener. Second we will discuss why Alfred Wegener had difficulty getting his ideas accepted and why his hypothesis encountered such harsh criticism. Then finally discuss why Alfred Wegener used fossilized organisms like Glossopteris and Mesosaurus (land organisms) to support his hypothesis.
Alfred Wegener Let us start off this assignment by getting to know a little about Alfred Wegener. Alfred Lothar Wegener one of five children and was born in Berlin, Germany, on November 1, 1880 (Healey, Christina, Alfred Wegener, 2006). Going up in Germany Wegener had a very close relationship with his older brother and they both shared the …show more content…
To start let us look in simple terms what Wegener’s hypothesis was, he proposed that the continents had once been joined and over time they had drifted apart (Scientus.org, 2014). This may seem like a very simple idea that should not cause to much trouble but this simple idea that Wegener proposed challenged the thoughts to be held true at that time in the fields of geology, geophysics, zoogeography, and paleontology (Scientus.org, 2014). The harsh reaction to Wegener’s hypothesis can best be seen in a quote from geologist R. Thomas Chamberlain “If we are to believe in Wegener’s hypothesis we must forget everything which has been learned in the past 70 years and start all over again” (Scientus.org, 2014). Wegener also received great criticism for his hypothesis because it was incomplete/flawed, he could not fully explained what drove the continental drift to occur (Scientus.org, …show more content…
As part of his hypothesis of a mega continent he discovered research papers on fossils supporting his theory that Africa and South America had once been connected by the continetsize (Hughes, Patrick, 1998). These studies cited as evidence fossils of identical land animals that had lived in both areas simultaneously hundreds of millions of years ago (Hughes, Patrick, 1998). One such fossilized land organism that added credibility to Wegener’s theory was that of the Mesosaurus a small fresh water aquatic reptile from the Permain period about 260 million years ago in what is now eastern South America and southwestern Africa (Lutgens, F., Tarbuck, E., Tasa, D., 2014). Wegener asserted that South America and Africa must have been joined during that period of history because fossils of Mesosaurus are limited to the those regions and if Mesosaurus had been able to make the long journey across the South Atlantic, it’s fossils would likely be more widely distributed (Lutgens, F., Tarbuck, E., Tasa, D., 2014). Wegener also cited research evidence of fossil seed fern Glossopteris as evidence of Pangea (Lutgens, F., Tarbuck, E., Tasa, D., 2014). Research showed that Glossopteris leaves and seeds were too large to have been spread great distances by the wind but it is known by fossils to have been widely dispersed among Africa, Australia, India, and South America