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2.6 Explanations from Evidence: Continental Drift

Remember that evidence is data used to support an idea.
Use observations to form possible explanations about Earth’s past.
Test and revise your explanations, using observations as evidence.
Examine one kind of long-term change in the geosphere.

Paleomap Project Scotese
Navigate through this site to find animations, diagrams, resources, teaching materials, and background information. The home page describes how the site is organized and how to find what you want. In particular, the site includes maps and animations (including the breakup of Pangea and the way the continents will look in the future) of the changing positions and shapes of the continents over geologic time.

On the Move - Continental Drift and Plate Tectonics NASA

	This site includes some brief background details on how the theory of continental drift developed and how NASA monitors and track continental drift now. For fun, try out the mini-quiz or do the word search (which requires Java).

ODSN Plate Tectonic Reconstruction Service ODSN
This site allows you to select a time between 150 million years before present and today and then the program maps what the world looked like at the time you select.

Historical Perspective USGS

	Learn a little more about the history continental drift and plate tectonics.

Trans-Hudsonian Suture--Collision of Superior with Hearne/Wyoming Province 3 Rivers
Read more about another example of a suture zone that stretches from the Hudson Bay to Nebraska.

The Breakup of Pangea USGS

	A brief discussion about the breakup of Pangea

Chapter One
Nature of Science

Chapter Two
Large-Scale Forces that Change the Geosphere

2.1
Evidence, Models, and Explanation

2.2
Matter Within Systems

2.3
Using Models

2.4
Natural Hazards and Risks

2.5
Earthquakes and Volcanoes

2.6
Continental Drift

2.7
Mantle Convecton and Plate Tectonics

2.8
Mountain-
Building

Chapter Three
Surface Process that Change the Geosphere

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This project is supported, in part, by the National Science Foundation (grant no ESI-0095938). Any opinion, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.