On the globe, we can observe that the surface of the Earth is land and water. Yet a long time ago, all the continents on Earth were connected. With a series of changes in the Earth, these connected continents gradually separated to form today's continents and oceans.
An interesting phenomenon has long been noted: the contours of the two shores of the Atlantic, particularly the west coast of Africa, are very similar to those of the east coast of South America. The convex parts of the South American continent almost coincide with the recessed parts of the African continent. Is this just a coincidence?
As early as the 17th century, the English philosopher Bacon observed on the map that the east coast of South America and the west coast of Africa could be perfectly connected. Unfortunately, he only spoke his mind about the two continents, and did not try to find evidence that the two sides of the strait were once connected. In the nearly 300 years since Bacon, no one has seriously considered why the land on both sides of the ocean can be tightly stitched together.
One day in 1910, the young German meteorologist Wegener was lying uncomfortably in his hospital bed, bored, and his eyes fell on a map of the world on the wall. He was surprised to find that the contours of the two sides of the Atlantic were so corresponding, especially the right-angled protrusions at the eastern tip of Brazil, which coincided very well with the Gulf of Guinea on the western coast of Africa, which was concave into the continent. From then on, every protrusion of the Brazilian coast corresponds exactly to a bay of the same shape on the west coast of Africa; similarly, every bay on the coast of Brazil has a convex part on the west coast of Africa. A thought suddenly crossed his mind: Was the former African continent and the South American continent connected together, and only later cracked, drifted and separated?
The following year, Wigener began collecting data, intending to test his vision through the similarities in the shape of the continents, geological structures, and paleontology on both sides of the Atlantic. By examining the mountains and strata on both sides of the Atlantic, he came up with exciting results: the folded mountain system in The Newfoundland area of North America echoes with the fold mountain system in Scandinavia in northern Europe, suggesting that North America and Europe have been "intimately contacted"; the fold belt of the Appalachian Mountains in the United States, whose northeast end is submerged into the Atlantic Ocean and extends to the opposite shore, reappears in the western Part of England and Central Europe; the ancient rock distribution area in western Africa can be connected with the ancient rock region of Brazil, and the rock structure and structure between the two are also consistent with each other.
Subsequently, Wegener examined a large number of fossils in rocks, the remains of ancient glaciers, coral reefs and other signs of paleoclimate, all of which supported his ideas. With ample evidence, in 1915, Wegener carefully presented his scientific research results, The Origin of Land and Sea, to the world. In this tome, Wegener systematically expounded the theory of continental drift. The theory holds that 250 million years ago, the ancient continents currently divided into continents were connected and unique, called "Pancontinent", when there were no oceans. Later, the complete Pancontinent began to split apart, and the ocean gradually appeared between the divided continents, and slowly formed the current seven continents. Wigner's "theory of continental drift" caused an uproar in the geological community as soon as it was proposed, but Wigener insisted on continuing to collect evidence for his theory in the face of opposition until the end of his life.
30 years after Wegener's death, the "plate tectonic theory" swept the world, and people finally recognized the correctness of the "continental drift theory".
Text/Lu Jiawen