Wegener and his Theory of Continental Drift

Abstract

Alfred Wegener, an astronomer by training and meteorologist by profession, visualised that there was once a single very large landmass on the surface of the earth. Gradually it broke up into smaller fragments which drifted away to form the present continents. In a few cases, the drifting fragments subsequently collided, coalesced and formed larger landmasses again. Wegener could thus explain in a simple way (i) similarities in shapes of continental coast lines separated by wide oceans, (ii) similarities in the rocks and fossils occurring on such coasts and in the fauna and flora inhabiting them, (iii) the formation of several major mountain ranges of the world, and (iv) the evidence in rocks on past climates of the earth.