Railway
The scientist who proposed the theory of continental drift in 1912, and is often regarded as the father of the idea that led to plate tectonics, was:
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Answer: Option A — Alfred Wegener
Detailed Solution
The German meteorologist and geophysicist Alfred Wegener proposed the theory of continental drift in 1912 and explained it in detail in his book "The Origin of Continents and Oceans" (1915).
Main ideas of the continental drift theory:
- All the continents were once joined together in a single supercontinent, which he called Pangaea, surrounded by a single ocean, Panthalassa.
- About 200 million years ago, Pangaea began to break up, and the pieces slowly drifted apart to their present positions.
Evidence Wegener presented:
- Jigsaw fit of the continents: the coastlines of South America and Africa fit together closely.
- Fossil evidence: fossils of the same land plants and animals, such as Glossopteris, Mesosaurus and Lystrosaurus, are found on continents now separated by oceans.
- Rock and mountain matches: similar rock types and mountain chains are found on different continents, such as the Appalachians in North America and the mountains of Scotland and Norway.
- Ancient climates: evidence of glaciers in now-tropical regions such as India and Africa, and coal deposits (formed in warm, wet climates) in Antarctica.
Why the theory was rejected at first:
Wegener could not explain what force could move the continents. He suggested the "polar-fleeing force" (due to the Earth's rotation) and tidal forces, but these were far too weak.
Most geologists of his time opposed his ideas.
Later acceptance:
- After Wegener's death in 1930 during an expedition in Greenland, new evidence was found.
- Studies of the ocean floor in the 1950s and 1960s, including palaeomagnetism and sea-floor spreading, showed that continents do move.
- This led to the theory of plate tectonics in the 1960s, which explained the mechanism: continents move as parts of large plates driven by heat from the Earth's interior.
Why not the other options?
- ✗Arthur Holmes proposed the convection current theory in the 1930s.
- ✗Harry Hess proposed sea-floor spreading in 1962.
- ✗James Hutton is known as the father of modern geology.
Quick tip
Remember: Continental drift = Alfred Wegener (1912, Pangaea); mechanism later explained by plate tectonics in the 1960s.
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Earth: Structure, Rocks & Landforms — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Earth: Structure, Rocks & Landforms, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers the interior of the Earth (crust, mantle and core), types of rocks, plate tectonics and continental drift, earthquakes and volcanoes, and the landforms created by rivers, glaciers, wind and waves. Questions frequently ask about the layers of the Earth and their discontinuities, the three types of rocks (igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic), the Pacific 'Ring of Fire', and which agent forms which landform, such as river meanders and oxbow lakes or glacial cirques and moraines. Alfred Wegener proposed the continental drift theory in 1912. Practise the Earth's structure and landforms questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.