Investigation 6: Earth's Moving Continents

This investigation will help you to:

Continental Drift
Supercontinents
The Breakup of Pangea

To learn more about continental drift, visit the following web sites:

On the Move - Continental Drift and Plate Tectonics, NASA
This site includes some brief background details on how the theory of continental drift developed and how NASA monitors and track continental drift now. For fun, try out the mini-quiz or do the word search (which requires Java).

Historical Perspective, USGS
Learn a little more about the history continental drift and plate tectonics.

To learn more about supercontinents, visit the following web sites:

Paleomap Project, By Christopher Scotese
Navigate through this site to find animations, diagrams, resources, teaching materials, and background information. The home page describes how the site is organized and how to find what you want. In particular, the site includes maps and animations (including the breakup of Pangea and the way the continents will look in the future) of the changing positions and shapes of the continents over geologic time.

To learn more about the breakup of Pangea, visit the following web sites:

The Breakup of Pangea: The North America-Africa Connection, Rutgers University
A discussion about how we know Pangea once existed. Includes diagrams and animations.

The Breakup of Pangea, USGS
A brief discussion about the breakup of Pangea.

It's About Time/AGI