The continental drift is their slow movement along the surface of the planet. About 220 million years ago, all the continents were a single mother or nadmaterik, which geologists called Pangea.
Pangea began to split into parts about 200 million years ago. The various components were separated from the supermatter and smoothly diverged, making up the usual outlines of the globe. Centrifugal processes are still relevant today.
South America once coexisted with Africa, and North America with Europe, as evidenced by the contours of the coastline and the structure of geological layers.
The assumption that once all the continents formed a single part of the earth was first put forward and substantiated by the German explorer-encyclopaedist Baron Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859), who noticed a strong between the rocks of Brazil (South America) and Congo (Africa).
When the German meteorologist Alfred Wegener (1880-1930) expressed the idea of the continental drift (1923), he was publicly ridiculed. Chairman of the American Philosophical Society called this hypothesis "complete nonsense," although the very concept of Wegener formed long and consistently. In January 1912, he presented to the public the original theory: the continents are mobile, they represent independent plateaus, light relative to deeper layers of the earth's crust. Because of this, they are capable of drifting like ice floes.
Wegener's weak point was that he could not explain the mechanics of the process and describe the forces that make the continents move away and collide. At the junction of 30-40 years of the XX century, the scientific justification provided Scottish geologist Arthur Holmes (1890-1965). He suggested that the forces driving the continents might be the streams of matter existing in the mantle and driven by the temperature difference between the surface and the core of the Earth. At the same time, warm streams rise upwards, and cold ones go down - convection takes place. In a few decades, the theoretical notions of large movements of the earth's crust turned from a hypothesis into the field of applied science - the tectonics of lithospheric plates.
I invite you to see a 2-minute animation video, which graphically represents the process of fragmentation of Pangea and continental drift, forming the outlines of the planet Earth that we recognize (in reverse order - from modernity to antiquity):
[Channel on youtube - Interactive Technologies ]Not the proof of continental drift has become the same structure of fossils of ancient organisms found on different continents. For example:
fossils of fossil ferns ( glossopteris ) were found in both Australia and India;
the remains of diadectic insects have been found both in Europe and in North America;
fossil fossils of the reptiles of leafhoppers that inhabited tropical forests 200 million years ago were found in Africa, India, China and Antarctica.
For dozens and hundreds of millions of years of drift, the continents have overcome enormous distances. Their movement slowly, but inexorably changed the geographic map, continues to change now and will not cease to change in the future.
Space satellites provided an opportunity to determine the location of the continents so accurately that it was possible to measure and record their smooth movement. For measurements, a laser beam imprint was used from the satellite, which is sent from the ground station towards each continent. For such measurements and calculations, the World-Wide Navigation System (GPS) and Very Long-Wave Interferometry (VLBI) are also quite suitable.
The speed of continental drift varies considerably. For example, the peninsula of Hindustan moves north, advancing to Asia, very quickly, according to the standards of continental drift. South America moves away from Africa annually by 20 cm. And the distance from London to New York, annually grows by 2.5 cm more. This is due to the processes of tectonic activity. On average, the continents move with a speed that is comparable to the growth rate of nails.
220 million years ago, the nametarch Pangea from all sides surrounded the ocean Pantalassa, which in Greek means "all seas". Then Pangea split into two unequal parts, named Laurasia and Gondwana. This event dates back to an age of about 200 million years BC. The continents shared the sea of Tethys. Approximately 135 million years ago, and these continents began to divide.
In paleogeography, the ancient northern continent is called Laurasia, and it gave rise to modern Eurasia and North America. The southern continent, Gondwana, split more often and more actively, resulting in Africa, South America, India, Australia and Antarctica. From Gondwana (from the name of the Gond tribe and the region of India - Van), the Arabian Peninsula, the large island of Madagascar and the subcontinent India also formed.
About 110 million years ago, South and North America began the process of rapprochement, a little later the division of Australia and Antarctica occurred. Hindostan broke away from the African continent and began moving towards Asia, to the north. Europe and North America moved apart about 60-65 million years ago and, at about the same time, dinosaurs died out on Earth.
The continents do not suspend their movement until now. North America relentlessly separates from Europe, shortening the distance with Asia. The processes of collision of lithospheric plates are particularly noticeable due to volcanic activity and the formation of mountain massifs: Africa rested in Gibraltar and "dives" under Europe, resulting in the formation of the Alps; and Indochina imprinted into Asia on a grand scale, forming the highest mountain massif on the planet - the Himalayas with Everest and a scattering of other eight-thousand-meter mountains.
It should be noted that the supercontinents existed before, for example Rodinia, which ceased to exist 750 million years ago, Pannonia - 540 million BC. Perhaps there were earlier educations. According to forecasts, in the future the Earth continents will gather more than once in supercontinents. The closest of them scientists have already come up with a name - Pangea Ultima.