Question

Which statements describe evidence of continental drift? Check all that apply.

A) Deserts line up when continents are pushed together.
B) Mountain ranges often appear on the edges of continents.
C) Fossils of the same animals appear on different continents.
D) Tropical plants currently appear in both Antarctica and South America.
E) Wegener’s theories were accepted by most geologists in the 1960s.
F) Explorers discovered the edges of continents they did not know about.

Answer 1

C and D.

- C: Identical fossils on widely separated continents (e.g., Mesosaurus, Glossopteris) indicate those landmasses were once joined.
- D: Tropical plant fossils in places now cold (like Antarctica) are paleoclimate evidence that those continents were formerly at different latitudes.

(A) is not a standard line of evidence; (B) is a general observation but not the specific matching/mapping evidence used for continental drift; (E) is a historical claim, not evidence; (F) is just exploration history.