What do you understand by the theory of 'continental drift'? Discuss the prominent evidences in its support.

One supercontinent

All landmasses once formed Pangaea, surrounded by a single ocean, Panthalassa.

Break-up

Around 200 million years ago Pangaea split into Laurasia and Gondwanaland, separated by the Tethys Sea, which later broke into today's continents.

Forces and flaw

He credited the drift to a pole-fleeing force and to the tidal pull of the Sun and Moon, forces too weak to move continents, so the theory waited for sea-floor spreading to explain the mechanism.

Jigsaw fit

Brazil's bulge fits the Gulf of Guinea, and Bullard's 1964 computer fit along the 1,000-fathom line was nearly perfect.

Matching rocks and placers

2,000 million-year-old rocks of coastal Brazil match those of western Africa, and Ghana's gold placers come from veins that lie in Brazil.

Tillite and old climates

Gondwana tillite, like India's Talchir beds, recurs in six southern landmasses, and Antarctic coal shows it once lay in warm latitudes.

Fossil distribution

Mesosaurus occurs only in South Africa and Brazil, and the Glossopteris flora spans India, Africa, Australia, Antarctica and South America.