Continent Drift

On Monday we finished our Continental drift activity. We did this activity to learn about the Continental drift theory since we cannot really do a lab on the Continental drift. In this lab we learned about a scientist from the early 19th century named Alfred Wegener. During his lifetime he created the earliest reasoning of Pangaea and Continental drift. Although people in his lifetime thought he was crazy, we now regard him as a genius. Some of his reasoning behind this was that the continents fit together almost like a puzzle. This implies that the continents were formed together and some how moved away from each other. His evidence also came from the fact that there were fossils of plants and animals that lived in  tropical climates found in glaciers. He reasoned an idea for the large land land mass which is what we know as Pangaea.

On Tuesday we did yet another activity involving the Continental drift theory. In this lab were instructed to create a model of what Pangaea might have looked like. We first color coded each physical feature such as mountains and rivers. We then cut out each continent. Then like constructing a puzzle we fit the continents together by their land features and shapes that corresponded with each other. After it was all put together we could see how each continent's physical features and land edges matched up and created one super continent. Matching these up really helped show on a visual level how each continent connected. After doing this part of the lab I can see why Wegener had the theory that he did.

On Wednesday we finished this lab. The last activity we did on this lab was a model of the oceanic crust and the occurrences that happen there. We cut three slits in a paper and each slit represented an important feature in the oceanic crust. The center slit represented the mid-ocean ridge and the two outer slits represented subduction zones. Slips of paper slid in and out of the slits to represent magma. The paper coming from the mid-ocean ridge was magma coming up and hardening into crust. The paper coming out of the two subduction zones came out of the bottom and represented continental crust being recycled back into the mantle. This model helped me have a better understanding of what really happens in the oceanic crust because understanding this is something I need to improve on.

On Thursday we reviewed for our quiz by doing textbook questions and short answer practice questions. After doing the questions I now know that I need to review the layers of the earth. Specifically the parts of the mantle such as the asthenosphere and the mesosphere. The asthenosphere is review but the mesosphere is a new layer we are just learning about. After that I worked  on short answer questions. I wrote my answers in the comments section but I was not signed in, so my work did not save. I was sad that this happened but I got enough practice in for the quiz even though they were not submitted.