HW#4: Plate Tectonics
Instructions: Answer the questions below using one to five sentences.
1. Briefly describe the view held by most geologists prior to the 1960s regarding the ocean basins and continents.
2. What was the first line of evidence that led early investigators to suspect that the continents were once connected?
3. Explain why the discovery of the fossil remains of Mesosaurus in both South America and Africa, but nowhere else, supports the continental drift hypothesis.
4. How did Wegener account for evidence of glaciers in portions of South America, Africa, and India, when areas in North America, Europe, and Asia supported lush tropical swamps?
5. What new findings about the ocean floor did oceanographers discover after World War II?
6. List the three types of plate boundaries and describe the relative motion along each.