2006-10-03 08:42:53 · 10 answers · asked by ponceadolfo 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
This question doesn't make a lot of sense, but I'm guessing you want Atlantis -- the lost continent.
2006-10-03 08:47:59 · answer #1 · answered by Fall Down Laughing 7 · 1⤊ 4⤋
In 1915, the German geologist and meteorologist Alfred Wegener (1880-1930) first proposed the theory of continental drift, which states that parts of the Earth's crust slowly drift atop a liquid core. The fossil record supports and gives credence to the theories of continental drift and plate tectonics.
Wegener hypothesized that there was an original, gigantic supercontinent 200 million years ago, which he named Pangaea, meaning "All-earth". Pangaea was a supercontinent consisting of all of Earth's land masses. It existed from the Permian through Jurassic periods. It began breaking up during the Jurassic period, forming continents Gondwanaland and Laurasia, separated by the Tethys Sea.
Pangaea started to break up into two smaller supercontinents, called Laurasia and Gondwanaland, during the Jurassic period. By the end of the Cretaceous period, the continents were separating into land masses that look like our modern-day continents.
Wegener published this theory in his 1915 book, On the Origin of Continents and Oceans. In it he also proposed the existence of the supercontinent Pangaea, and named it (Pangaea means "all the land" in Greek).
Fossil Evidence in Support of the Theory
Eduard Suess was an Austrian geologist who first realized that there had once been a land bridge between South America, Africa, India, Australia, and Antarctica. He named this large land mass Gondwanaland (named after a district in India where the fossil plant Glossopteris was found). This was the southern supercontinent formed after Pangaea broke up during the Jurassic period. He based his deductions on the plant Glossopteris, which is found throughout India, South America, southern Africa, Australia, and Antarctica.
Fossils of Mesosaurus (one of the first marine reptiles, even older than the dinosaurs) were found in both South America and South Africa. These finds, plus the study of sedimentation and the fossil plant Glossopteris in these southern continents led Alexander duToit, a South African scientist, to bolster the idea of the past existence of a supercontinent in the southern hemisphere, Eduard Suess's Gondwanaland. This lent further support to A. Wegener's Continental Drift Theory
2006-10-03 16:15:12 · answer #2 · answered by johnslat 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Pangaea. this was the super continent during the time of the dinosaurs
2006-10-03 17:28:08 · answer #3 · answered by gets flamed 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
PANGEA...long ago, there was only one supercontinent and it was called Pangea. If we notice to a world map, the continents may fit if we attach them together. As they said, there was so called 'continental drift' happened many years ago that separate the single mass of land into continents.
2006-10-04 04:15:55 · answer #4 · answered by Tsokomonster 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pangaea.
2006-10-03 17:09:11 · answer #5 · answered by RG 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pangaea comes from two Greek words: pan=all, gaea=earth.
2006-10-03 18:36:43 · answer #6 · answered by miyuki & kyojin 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Assuming you mean before continental drift moved North and South America away from Africa and Europe...the answer I think is Pangaea
2006-10-03 15:50:38 · answer #7 · answered by Will 4 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Are you sure your question is complete ? I've been studying history for more years than I care to admit, but I'm not sure I understand what you're trying to find out. Are you thinking about the ' lost continent' of Atlantis ?
2006-10-03 15:50:10 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 4⤋
Is Pangaea what you're looking for?
2006-10-04 00:23:41 · answer #9 · answered by ImAssyrian 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
gonwandaland...could that be it? and who was there to name it zingathropus?
2006-10-03 18:57:50 · answer #10 · answered by eldoradoreefgold 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋