# data[].attributes.headline
How does Pangaea prove continental drift?- Charlotte Phillips

# data[].attributes.subject
How does Pangaea prove continental drift?- Charlotte Phillips

# data[].attributes.body
In the beginning, all of the continents were one giant supercontinent called Pangaea.  This was proven a while ago by Alfred Wegener.  Though it proves continental drift, too.  It proves continental drift because of the land itself.  Pangaea was 250 million years ago, and now, we have seven major pieces of land.  Over the years, the continents have been moving at a rate of 2.5 cm a year. Pangaea proves continental drift.

# data[].attributes.body
Alfred Wegener

# data[].attributes.body
225 million years ago, during the Permian period, there was one continent called Pangaea. Then about 150 years ago during the Triassic period, Pangaea drifted apart a bit to form two continents, Laurasia and Gondwana. Next, about 100 million years ago during the cretaceous period, those continents spread apart even more to where Africa, South America, and India were completely different continents and from there all of the continents separated and led to the 7 continents we know today.

# data[].attributes.body
Here are the three main reasons Pangea broke apart. For starters, the largest reason why Pangea separated is seafloor spreading. What is seafloor spreading? Seafloor spreading is the seafloor moving because of magma pushing through mid ocean ridges. This cycle makes the seafloor expand which was a reason Pangea separated. A second reason Pangea separated, is the movements in the tectonic plates which causes convection currents in the upper areas of the mantle to move. This caused Pangea to separate. A last reason why Pangea separated is the same reason that it was formed, which was material rifts. These material rifts which were created by movements in the tectonic plates, which also created earthquakes. These three things are what caused Pangea to separate, over millions and millions of years.

# data[].attributes.body
Scientists Masaki Yoshida and M. Santhosh have created mathematical 3D simulations to understand how Pangaea separated. These scientists also created more geological structures to predict continental drift over the next 250 million years. From these models, we can learn that Australia, North America, Africa, and Eurasia will most likely come together to form what scientists will call Amasia, however, Antarctica and South America will stay separated from the new supercontinent.

# data[].attributes.headline
The Puzzle - Charlotte Phillips                       

# data[].attributes.subject
The Puzzle - Charlotte Phillips                       

# data[].attributes.body
Everyone likes a good puzzle.  All of the continents fit together as if they were one large puzzle.  To go with that, Pangaea had an ocean, surrounding it as an island.  This ocean was called Panthalassa.  Once the continents drifted apart, the ocean turned into many different seas, rivers, lakes, and canals.  "The continents fit together like a tongue and groove," said Brendan Murphy, a geology professor at the St. Francis Xavier University, in Antigonish, Nova Scotia.  The photo below shows how all of the continents fit together.

# data[].attributes.body
A little more than a century ago, a German scientist named Alfred Wegener had a hypothesis.  He proposed the concept that all 7 continents used to be one colossal continent, and he called it Pangaea.  Although, back then if someone proposed an idea that was even a little absurd, they were considered crazy or delusional.  Wegener used evidence from land formations, fossils and climate changes to try to argue his theory that the continents had initially been one large continent.   Unfortunately Wegener did not have enough evidence to definitively prove his hypothesis - he could not explain how the continents could move.  Sadly, his proclamation was not proven in his lifetime, but was proven in later years.

# data[].attributes.body
Imagine all continents as one big continent. About 300 million years ago, all of the continents were one big supercontinent called Pangaea. Pangaea means "all lands". Surrounding the one big continent was one ocean called Panthalassa.  Approximately 200 million years ago Pangaea broke apart into the 7 continents we know today.