This theory was put forth by Alfred Wegener. The continental drift hypothesis was developed in the early part of the 20th century. According to this theory, e continents were once united into a single supercontinent named Pangaea, meaning all earth in ancient Greek. He suggested that Pangaea broke up long ago and that the continents then moved to their current positions. He called his hypothesis continental drift.
Evidences of continental drift theory are as follows:
- Map of world is like a jig saw puzzle and the continents can be arranged into one entity as we can see from the above diagram
- identical rocks of the same type and age are found on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
- Placer Deposits: The placer deposits of gold in the Ghana coast do not have source rock in the region. The gold deposits of Ghana have been derived from the Brazil plateau when the two continents lay side by side
- Distribution of Fossils: identical species of plants and animals adapted to living on land or in freshwater are found on either side of the marine barriers. For example remains of Mesosaurus, a freshwater crocodile-like reptile that lived during the early Permian (between 286 and 258 million years ago), are found solely in Southern Africa and Eastern South America.
- Tillite:The glacial tillite found in Gondwana system of sediments has its resemblance to six different landmasses of the Southern Hemisphere. Counterparts of this succession are found in Africa, Falkland Island, Madagascar, Antarctica and Australia besides India.