Summarize the ways that fossils helped support the hypothesis of continental drift?
the existence of rare fossils with a limited deployment that are on both sides of the continent that inseparable is one indication that the two continents were from one land
______ is a fossil fern that helped support Wegener's hypothesis of continental drift?
a) Glossopteris
Describe wegener;s hypothesis of continental drift?
You should know by now that his theory tries to prove that all the continents were once joined together, and are moving apart. 1) Wagner found certain similarities between two completely different continents. A very good example is that of South America and Africa. He basically found the same species of fossilized animals in rocks that are of the same age. 2) To add to the previous point, it is also very noticeable that the continent of South America and Africa fit together very much like a puzzle. 3) Also, coal is found in Antarctica. Coal is actually fossilized fuel that is created through the deposits of dead plants and animals over millions of years. So in other words, it means that Antarctica is once found in a much warmer climate.
How does fossil evidence help prove the theory of continental drift?
Fossil evidence helped prove the theory of continental drift because similar fossils could be found on separate continents, in rocks of roughly the same age, surrounded by layers that matched each other, and in some cases, found nowhere else in the world. Examples include Mesosaurus and Lystrosaurus. Both are reptiles found in places now separated by oceans. Neither could have swum such great lengths across salt water. Another example includes the plant Glossopteris, a fernlike plant from about 250 million years ago. That plant has been found in small areas in Africa, South America, Australia, India, and Antarctica, all in small sections that lined up in Alfred Wegener's (the guy who developed the theory of continental drift) view of the supercontinent Pangaea. It should be note that those other fossils also lined up too. Glossopteris has a seedlike structure to it that was too large to be carried such great distances by wind and not strong enough (too fragile) to survive a trip by water. You ask what about birds? That's quite a distance for a bird to travel while carrying a large seed. All of this together, along with evidence from landforms that matched up just like the fossils, and evidence from climate helped convince Wegener that continental drift had happened. Oh, and on the climate part. Consider the island of Spitsbergen found North of Norway...in the Arctic Ocean. This island is covered mostly in ice and has a harsh polar climate. Yet on that island are fossils of plants found only in tropical environments. That would mean that the island of Spitsbergan had to have been located much closer to the equator around 300 million years ago (the rough age of those fossils).