Plate Tectonics Theory essays

Plate Tectonics Theory essays Most people know about the prehistoric land that scientists have named Pangaea, but few know what it looked like, was like, and how it separated over millions of years. The hypothesis is now widely accepted and may soon become scientific law. I will explain the plate tectonics theory, Pangaeas climate and environment, and how the earths plates are continuing to move. Along the same lines, scientists have found it difficult to trace the movements of the continents that occurred very early in the earths history. However, a general picture can be constructed from a combination of evidence from various scientific fields. Early in history, there were probably two or three super continents that formed, broke up, and re-formed as lithospheric plates drifted slowly around the earth. Alfred Wegener first hypothesized the continent of Pangaea, and proposed that it formed between 250 and 300 million years ago. Many mountain regions, such as the Appalachian Mountains and Russias Ural Mountains, were formed during early Paleozoic Era collisions, which also created Pangaea. Now that you know how this super continent was formed, lets see how it dissipated. Following this, about two hundred million years ago, Pangaea began to break apart. It started to form two different landmasses. Just north of the equator a great east-west rift split the super continent, nearly separating Gondwanaland and Laurasia. They stayed connected only where the southern tip of Spain touched the northwestern coast of Africa. As a rift and small sea formed east of this connection, Laurasia began to rotate slowly in a clockwise direction. A little while later, both Gondwanaland and Laurasia began to split, creating four major continents. Present day South America broke away from Africa and India slid from its former position, connected with Antarctica and Australia. Later, the Himalayas formed as the last of the continents broke apart, India...