![]() ![]() Tidal force is caused by the moon's and sun's attraction, which causes tides to form in marine seas. According to Wegener, the rise in centrifugal force has resulted in pole fleeing. ![]() As we go from the poles to the equator, the centrifugal force rises. This bulge is caused by the earth's rotation (greater centrifugal force at the equator). The Earth is not a perfect spherical it has an equatorial bulge. The polar-fleeing force is related to the earth's rotation. Tidal force (the gravitational attraction of the moon and, to a lesser extent, the sun) was also hypothesised by Wegener to have a significant effect. The drift, according to Wegener, was in two directions: equatorwards owing to the interplay of gravity, pole-fleeing force (produced by the earth's rotation) and buoyancy (ship floats in water due to buoyant force given by water), and westwards due to tidal currents induced by the earth's motion (earth rotates from west to east, so tidal currents act from east to west, according to Wegener). Drift began some 200 million years ago (Mesozoic Era, Triassic Period, Late Triassic Epoch), with continents breaking up and drifting apart. Pangaea was separated into two large landmasses by a sea named Tethys: Laurentia (Laurasia) to the north and Gondwanaland to the south of Tethys. According to Continental Drift Theory, there was once a single large continent known as Pangaea, which was surrounded by a single large ocean known as Panthalassa. In the 1920s, Alfred Wegener proposed the continental drift theory. Wegener's true love for the subject came to light in 1911, when he came across multiple scientific records documenting fossils of similar plants and animals discovered on different sides of the Atlantic. He observed how the coast of South America perfectly aligned with the coast of Northwest Africa. In 1910, Alfred Wegener became interested in the notion of continental drift after noticing how Earth's continents resembled jigsaw puzzle pieces. Between 18, for example, Roberto Mantovani theorised that all continents had previously been linked in a "supercontinent," and even created an expanding earth idea. Although Alfred Wegener was able to establish a plausible hypothesis with data and precisely articulate the idea, it should be remembered that Wegener was not alone in his thinking. The movement of the Earth's continents relative to one other, causing them to seem to drift together over the sea bed, is characterised as the Theory of Continental Drift.
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