Continental drift or sea floor spreading?

Question

which theory came first/which one do you believe in the most and why?

Answer 1

Continental drift and seafloor spreading go hand in hand according to current theory. There is a sort of "which came first chicken or egg" aspect to the theory, in the sense that there is a question as to whether continental migration causes the sea floor to open from tension, or whether sea floor spreading caused by magma upwelling pushes the crust apart and moves the continents.

Don't confuse pangea with the theory. Pangea is the term used for a "supercontinent" that existed for a (geologically) short period when a lot of the existing continental land mass all came together. It was a result of continental drift, not a cause. I've seen other answers here every now and then attributing the presence of pangea to the onset of continental drift, and this is not accurate. It is just a miscomprehension of the origin of pangea and the role of continental drift in its production and breakup.

Answer 2

Centrifugal Force created Continental Drift first. The giant Continent of Pangea held all the dry land mass of earth in the beginning but the spinning of the earth caused this land mass to break up and spread itself out around the globe to create a balance of weight over the globe and that started continental drift, sea floor spreading is just magma pressure within the earth escaping through the thinnest crust it can find and that just happens to be in the middle of the ocean.

Answer 3

Alfred Wegener proposed Continental Drift in the early 1900s. While there were other inklings, Harry Hess proposed seafloor spreading in the 1960s.

You have to believe in seafloor spreading because it has been documented. Wegener was right in idea but not in process.

Answer 4

Wegener proposed continental drift. When sea floor spreading was discovered it was the evidence which showed Wegener right.

Answer 5

convection cells in the earths mantle drive continental drift and sea floor spreading. i believe that continental drift and sea floor spreading began simultaneously. i suppose that the convection cells came first.