Author Question: The prevailing westerlies are more consistent than the easterlies. Indicate whether the statement ... (Read 73 times)

Lisaclaire · **on:** Aug 22, 2018

The prevailing westerlies are more consistent than the easterlies.
Indicate whether the statement is true or false

Question 2

What kind of observational evidence did Alfred Wegener use to propose his theory of continental drift and the idea that the continents were once connected as the single landmass, Pangaea?

smrerig · **Reply #1 on:** Aug 22, 2018

Answer to Question 1

False

Answer to Question 2

In a lecture in 1912, Alfred Wegener, a busy German meteorologist and polar explorer, proposed a startling and original theory, continental drift. Wegener suggested that all Earth's land had once been joined into a single supercontinent surrounded by an ocean. He called the landmass Pangaea (pan, all; gaea, Earth, land) and the surrounding ocean Panthalassa (pan, all; thalassa, ocean). Wegener thought Pangaea had broken into pieces about 200 million years ago. Since then, he said, the pieces had moved to their present positions and were still moving.

Of course, Wegener's evidence included the apparent shoreline fit of continents across the North and South Atlantic, but he also commented on the alignment of mountain ranges of similar age, composition, and structure on both sides of the Atlantic. He pointed to the discovery of coal and the fossilized remains of tropical plants in frigid Antarctica, and even the similarities of fossils found across separated continents.