Displacement
Displacement
What is continental drift?
Continents keep moving slowly all the time. Sometimes,
they crunch together. Sometimes, they break in the middle. But they are always
drifting like ice floats on water. 1his is called continental drift.
At what speed are the continents moving?
The speed varies from place to place. For instance, America
Is drifting away from Europe at about 2 cm a year the same rate at which a
fingernail grows. This might seem slow, but over millions of years, if can take
the continents thousands of kilometers away.
Why could the east coast of South America and the west coast of Africa seem to fit together like pieces of a jigsaw?
It was because they were once joined together-along with the
other continents – in a giant Super continent which geologists call Pangea.
About 200 million years ago, Pangea began to break up, and the fragments
drifted apart to form today's Continents.
How were the Himalayas formed?
The Himalayas formed when the
Indo- Australian plate and the Eurasian plate collided.
As one plate moved below the other, what is modern- day India and central
Asia came together and were forced upwards creating 'fold mountains'.
Which plates carry the continents?
The Earth's surface is broken into 20 or so giant fragments called
tectonic plates. All of these move around. The continents are simply carried on
fop of these moving plates.
Ice cover during the Ice Age
Due to the
continental drift, even the Sahara was once covered with ice.
Was New York ever in the tropics?
Yes. About 250 million years ago, the place where New York
is now was on the equator, and if was a boiling hot desert. It was in this hot
desert that the sandstone formed that gave New York its famous brownstone
houses.
Was Australia ever joined to Africa?
Yes, about 200 million years ago, the north coast of
Australia was joined to the southeast coast of Africa.
'Best of luck'
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