Continental Drift vs Plate Tectonics Questions to be answered and turned in on Monday, April 7.

Wegner proposed the theory of Continental Drift in the early 1900s.  Plate Tectonics emerged as the successful theory during the 1960s.

1. Continents move, both in the Continental Drift theory and in modern Plate Tectonics. 
    In what way do these ideas differ?






2. Identify three lines of argument used by Wegner to show that the continents moved.
    What causal mechanism did he propose?
    Why were his ideas controversial?







3. Consider one of Wegner's observations used to support Continental Drift.
    a. Describe the observation
    b. How did the observation support drift?
    c. What alternate explanation could be invoked to discount Drift?







4. Describe the use of landbridges as an alternative to Continental Drift.
    a. what problem(s) did they "solve"?
    b. what problems did they create?







5. In "The Validation of Continental Drift" Gould describes both the conventional "scientific method" and his personal view of how science works.          How do these perspectives differ?