Why Do South America and Africa Look Like Two Items of a Puzzle?

Should you have a look at a map of the world, it’s exhausting to not discover that these two continents, Africa and South America, seem like they're two elements of the identical image. From the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when researchers traveled the world and drew maps throughout their travels, it was noticed that South America and Africa look as if they've further shores. Wanting on the map, he sees as in the event that they have been separated. Is it only a coincidence that they match one another so nicely, or have been they actually as soon as associated?

Alfred Wegener, a German meteorologist in 1912, was significantly intrigued by this pupil's coincidence and started to conduct some analysis. Apart from the truth that the touchdown itself appeared too good to be a coincidence, proof from historic glaciers in Africa and the tropical local weather in North America confirmed that the continents weren't all the time like that. They should have moved on time, altering their authentic place.

Addressing this downside, Wagener additionally discovered one other proof that the match between South America and Africa isn't just an phantasm. Though the continents at the moment are hundreds of kilometers aside and have fully totally different ecosystems, some fossils of historic land animals on the west coast of Africa and the east coast of South America point out that archaeological populations as soon as inhabited these two continents.

Primarily based on these knowledge, Wegener put ahead the speculation of continental drift. In accordance with this speculation, the continents have been as soon as united into one "supercontinent", which he known as Pangea. Nevertheless, irrespective of how good this principle is likely to be, Wagener couldn't supply a mechanism that may clarify how one thing as huge as a continent might transfer from one place to a different. And never simply an inch, however hundreds of miles.

Nevertheless, within the 1660s, geologists have been lastly capable of finding a proof. Primarily based on the concepts of Wagner, the trendy principle of plate tectonics was developed. In accordance with this principle, it’s not a coincidence that South America appears to suit collectively, however in actuality it’s two elements of a damaged continent.

Due to the motion of plate tectonics, they diverged in time, however retained their form. So, now, wanting on the map, we are able to see two items of the puzzle, positioned hundreds of miles from one another, forming the identical image.