Continental drift believes that the continents moved because the magnetism of the sea floor. Plate tectonics believes that the lithosphere & the asthenosphere of the continents caused them to move.

What is the difference between continental drift seafloor spreading and plate tectonics?

Continental drift believes that the continents moved because the magnetism of the sea floor. Plate tectonics believes that the lithosphere & the asthenosphere of the continents caused them to move.

What is the theory of plate tectonics and continental drift?

Plate tectonics is the theory in geology that describes the features and movement of Earth’s surface in the present and in the past. Continental drift, on the other hand, is a theory in geology that describes the drifting of Earth’s continents on the ocean bed.

What is the major difference between continental drift and plate tectonics quizlet?

What are the differences between Continental Drift and Plate Tectonics? Continental drift believes that the continents moved because the magnetism of the sea floor. Plate tectonics believes that the lithosphere & the asthenosphere of the continents caused them to move.

How does the theory of plate tectonics support the theory of seafloor spreading?

Seafloor spreading helps explain continental drift in the theory of plate tectonics. When oceanic plates diverge, tensional stress causes fractures to occur in the lithosphere. … Older rocks will be found farther away from the spreading zone while younger rocks will be found nearer to the spreading zone.

What was Alfred Wegener’s theory?

In the early 20th century, Wegener published a paper explaining his theory that the continental landmasses were “drifting” across the Earth, sometimes plowing through oceans and into each other. He called this movement continental drift.

What is the theory of plate tectonics?

The theory of plate tectonics states that the Earth’s solid outer crust, the lithosphere, is separated into plates that move over the asthenosphere, the molten upper portion of the mantle. Oceanic and continental plates come together, spread apart, and interact at boundaries all over the planet.

What are 2 differences between the theory of continental drift and plate tectonics theory?

The difference between continental drift and plate tectonics is that the theory of continental drift states that the world was made up of a single continent. The theory of plate-tectonics, on the other hand, states that earth’s surface is broken into numbers of shifting plates or slabs.

How does the theory of plate tectonics support the theory of seafloor spreading quizlet?

Seafloor spreading helps explain continental drift in the theory of plate tectonics. basaltic oceanic crust and overlying sediment become progressively younger as the mid-ocean ridge is approached, and the sediment cover is thinner near the ridge.

How does seafloor spreading cause the continents to move?

Seafloor spreading creates new oceanic crust at a mid-ocean ridge. When this new material reaches the end of the plate and comes into contact with another plate, whether continental or not, a convergent or a transform boundary will occur.

How did Alfred Wegener discover the continental drift theory?

Fossils of similar organisms across widely disparate continents encouraged the revolutionary theory of continental drift. Continental drift describes one of the earliest ways geologists thought continents moved over time.

How did Alfred Wegener discover the continental drift?

In 1912 Alfred Wegener (1880-1930) noticed the same thing and proposed that the continents were once compressed into a single protocontinent which he called Pangaea (meaning “all lands”), and over time they have drifted apart into their current distribution.

How does seafloor spreading support the theory of continental drift?

Seafloor spreading helps explain continental drift in the theory of plate tectonics. When oceanic plates diverge, tensional stress causes fractures to occur in the lithosphere.

How does plate tectonics theory explain the movement of the crust?

By combining the sea floor spreading theory with continental drift and information on global seismicity, the new theory of Plate Tectonics became a coherent theory to explain crustal movements. Plates are composed of lithosphere, about 100 km thick, that “float” on the ductile asthenosphere.

Who proposed the theory of plate tectonics?

In 1965, a Canadian geophysicist, J. Tuzo Wilson, combined the continental drift and seafloor spreading hypotheses to propose the theory of plate tectonics. Tuzo said that Earth’s crust, or lithosphere, was divided into large, rigid pieces called plates. These plates “float” atop an underlying rock layer called the asthenosphere.

What is the difference between continental drift and plate tectonics?

The difference between continental drift and plate tectonics is that the theory of continental drift states that the world was made up of a single continent. The theory of plate-tectonics, on the other hand, states that earth’s surface is broken into numbers of shifting plates or slabs.