plate tectonics- course world（板块构造——世界）（6页）.docVIP

Plate TectonicsContinental drift, or the moving around of the continents on the surface of Earth, is a relative old idea, suggested first in 1912 by Alfred Wegner a German meteorologist (what, a meteorologist! Could it be true? Yes.).? He dreamed? up the idea by viewing the? land masses as pieces of on a global jigsaw puzzle. Find or buy a globe of the world and look at it.? What do you see? Do you see a completed, or partially completed, puzzle, with continent land masses as the pieces of the puzzle??!?Wegner did! Next, find a Mercator project, make a Xerox copy of it or make a tracing and then cut out the pieces (the continents) and try to put the puzzle together? without the oceans.? See how continents fit or dont fit, especially the continents of Africa and South America. A mercator map projection distorts the land masses and the oceans, especially the further north or south you go towards the poles.Yes, there is an amazing fit among some of the continents, especially the fit of? Africa and South America.? Your textbook shows the fit, or better yet should you create your own puzzle and then put the pieces together. Are you convinced?? Italy is shaped just like a womans old? boot (with high heels)!? Was Italy derived from a womans boot?!!? Hmm!!In Wegners time, his idea was viewed with lots of skepticism--basically it went over like a lead balloon.? Why?? Well, for one thing what conceivable processes could have moved the large land masses? Have you every tried to push an 18 wheeler (those big trucks that pass you on interstates) with your car!? Dont try it: I dont want a liability case for the university.? Also, during the time of Wegner thought the oceans had been around since the beginning of time--4 + billion years ago.When Wegner proposed his idea,? we knew little about the dynamics of the interior of the earth; lets face it the whole idea? of drifting continents seems pretty far-fetched even today! ? Circa 1950s-60s: It was not until the 1960s t