Continental Drift Activity Name: ______________________
Date: ___________ Hr: ____
Instructions:
You will be piecing together a puzzle of the supercontinent Pangaea based on fossil and rock
evidence on the present-day continents.
1. Label the continents (North America, South America, Eurasia, Australia, Antartica, Africa)
2. Color parts of the puzzle pieces according to the key.
3. Use scissors to cut along the borders of the continents. These are the approximate shapes
of the continents after Pangaea broke up.
4. Place the continents on a piece of construction paper. Move them around using the fossil
and mountain chain evidence to match the continents together in the position they were in
when they were part of Pangaea. The pieces may not fit together exactly!
5. When you have assembled Pangaea based on the fossil and rock locations glue the
continents on to your construction paper in the shape of the supercontinent. Glue the
legend to your puzzle. Check with your teacher BEFORE you glue
Answer the following questions and complete the “Evidence or Not?” table:
1. Where do you find mountains that are 4. Why don’t the present shapes of the
similar to the Appalachians in the eastern continents fit perfectly together?
United States?
5. Which fossil occurs on the most
2. Which two continents have the most landmasses?
obvious fit of the coastlines?
6. Glossopteris is an extinct fern plant that
3. How were the fossil symbols and mountain had leaves like ferns today. Where are
belts helpful in deciding where to move the fossils of Glossopteris found today?
continents?
7. Mesosaurus is an extinct freshwater reptile
that lived millions of years ago. Where are
fossils of Mesosaurus found today?
Evidence or Not?
On the Analyzing Evidence worksheet, read the statement in each box and check whether the
statement is evidence or not in the left columns, and whether it supports the movements of the
continents in the right columns.
Analyzing Evidence: Con2nental Dri6
Does it support the
idea that the
Is it evidence? Statements con+nents have
moved?
Yes No Yes No
1. 1858: Geologist Eduard Seuss points out that fossils of the Glossopteris plant are
found in southern Africa, South America, Australia, Antarc<ca, and India.
2. Wegener examines the loca<on of <ny rocks and the direc<on of grooves formed by
large glaciers scraping across southern areas of Africa, South America, Australia,
Antarc<ca, and India. He concludes that if all these places were fiHed together, they
would form a con<nuous ice sheet expanding outward in all direc<ons.
3. Frankfurt News, January 6,1912: Announcement that German scien<st Alfred
Wegener will speak at the Geological Associa<on mee<ng.
4. Popular Geology magazine, March 12, 1912: “Con<nents are so large they must always
have been where they are.”
5. Wegener observes that a South American mountain range in Argen<na matches up
with an ancient African mountain range in South Africa when the two con<nents
are placed together. He writes: “It is just as if we were to refit the torn pieces of a
newspaper by matching their edges and then check whether the lines of print ran
smoothly across. If they do, there is nothing leS but to conclude that the pieces
were in fact joined in this way.”
6. 1927: Geologist Alexander du Toit observes rock layers on the western coast of Africa
in the following sequence: basalt rock, shale containing fossil rep<les, coal layers
containing Glossopteris fossils, rocks containing Mesosaurus fossils, and shale. He
discovers an almost iden<cal sequence of rock layers on the eastern coast of South
America.
7. 1944: Geologist Baily Willis calls Wegener’s theory a fairy tale. He argues that the
theory should be ignored.
8. 1965: Geologist Edward Bullard uses computers to match coasts of South America
and Africa. They match extremely well at an ocean depth of 1,000 meters.
9. 1980s: Satellites and lasers are used to measure the movement of con<nents. They
con<nue to move at an average of about 2 cm (0.8 in) per year.
10. Fossils of Megascolecina earthworms are found in South America, Africa, India, and
Australia, as well as the islands of Madagascar and New Guinea.
