Question

As seen in the image above, fossils of the same species of extinct plants and animals are found in rocks of the same age but on continents that are now widely separated.
~Fossils of the seed fern Glossopteris were too heavy to be carried by wind across oceans.
~Mesosaurus, a swimming reptile could only swim in fresh water.
~Cynognathus and Lystrosaurus were land reptiles and were unable to swim. Such fossil evidence supports which statement put forth by Alfred Wegener regarding the geologic history of Earth. A The crust of the Earth is constantly moving as the result of convection cells of magma deep within the Earth. B The fossils indicated that the land masses known today as continents were clustered around the equator with similar climates and life forms. C The continents were once united into a single supercontinent named Pangaea, which broke apart and the continents gradually moved to their current positions. D The climate on Earth undergoes cyclical changes. These organisms all existed at the same time in Earth's history and became extinct at the same time because of some catastrophic event.

Answer 1

The fossil evidence described supports the statement **C: The continents were once united into a single supercontinent named Pangaea, which broke apart and the continents gradually moved to their current positions.**

Wegener's theory of continental drift posited that the distribution of similar fossils across widely separated continents indicates they were once part of a single landmass, or supercontinent, named Pangaea. The examples you provided—Glossopteris, Mesosaurus, Cynognathus, and Lystrosaurus—illustrate that these species could not have traversed vast ocean distances, implying that their geographic distribution is a result of the continents having once been connected.