Answer:
d. south america and africa
Explanation:
The idea that Africa and South America were united in the past is old, dating from the same time as the first mapping of these continents. Francis Bacon, an English statesman and philosopher, had already defended this hypothesis in 1620, however, the theory of the drift of continents, supported by geological knowledge, was only proposed by Alfred Wegener in 1912.
To be accepted, Wegener's theory required a great deal of evidence. For this, he sought support in the geological, paleontological and paleoclimate knowledge available at the time. Researching, he found that large geological structures on different continents seemed to be linked. The existing rock strata in South Africa were identical to those found in Santa Catarina, southern Brazil.
In 1927, South African geologist Alexander Du Toit published in his book “A Geological Comparison of South America with South Africa” several similarities between the two continents. One concerns the exclusive presence in both regions of a small aquatic reptile of the order of the Mesosaurus.
Even in fossils there are similarities between the South American and African continents. Proof of this is the discovery of fossils on both continents of a species of lizard known as Mesosauridae, which lived about 300 million years ago. This animal would not have the physical conditions to cross the 5,500 km of the Atlantic Ocean. It was through studying this species that scientists began to conclude that Africa and South America were one continent.
