We ended last week with a review of the layers of the earth, and used diagrams on the SmartBoard to identify the various layers and their key features. Below are the screen captures of the SmartBoard activity for those of you that missed the class. We also discussed the two type of crust, CONTINENTAL and OCEANIC, and the characteristics of each. Continental crust is much thicker than the oceanic crust, and is made of GRANITE. Ocean crust is thin, much denser, which is why it is lower on the earth’s surface, and is made of BASALT rock.
This week we begin a discussion of the evidence that geologist Alfred Wegener developed to support the Theory of Continental Drift – that all the continents were at one time connected into one large land mass called Pangaea. We made cut-out maps of Pangaea and then identified where Wegener discovered similar fossils, land formations, (such as mountains) and evidence of climate changes in glacial scratches and areas of coal. We drew them on the SmartBoard diagrams and colored the areas where he found his evidence. Unfortunately, Wegener was not able to convince the scientists of his day that the continents had actually moved! See the diagram below for the three main pieces of evidence that Wegener used to develop his theory.
Why did not scientists believe that the continents had moved?
What was missing from Alfred Wegener’s Theory of Continental Drift?
What was the missing piece?
An animation of the breakup of Pangaea to form the world we know today!
Enjoy this Music video from Mr. Parr,
a Science teacher who loves music!
CRUST in PIECES
If possible Nick Stewart needs the vocab words as he forgot to bring home his text book. Is it online or can we find the words on your website? Thank you, Jenn Stewart
I do not think I put them online before I left, but I will not be back in classroom until Monday, so he gets a weekend reprieve! Thanks! (From Nature’s Classroom)