PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 40 PTS FOR THIS The Supercontinent Mystery 1 Alfred Wegener was a brilliant meteorologist who had comp
leted respected polar research in Greenland. Yet when he proposed a groundbreaking theory, it was met with strong opposition. In 1911, Wegener had noticed a scientific paper identifying fossils found on opposite sides of the Atlantic. Although separated by an ocean, the fossils proved to be remains of identical plant and animal species. These findings prompted Wegener to examine maps, pondering the way the western coastline of Africa seemed to correspond to the eastern coastline of South America as if they once had fit together. As Wegener studied the shapes of the other continents and encountered additional cases of identical species divided by oceans, he developed a pioneering idea. He fearlessly suggested that all of the continents had been united in one supercontinent 300 million years ago. Wegener gave the name Pangaea (meaning “all lands”) to this ancient supercontinent. He believed that the gigantic landmass had broken into pieces that slowly moved apart, forming the continents. 2 Wegener’s continental drift theory was revolutionary. However, his idea was greeted with hostility and ridicule by most researchers. Geologists viewed Wegener as an outsider intruding on their academic territory. More importantly, the closed-minded scientists were already wedded to a rival explanation for the similarities in species on continents separated by oceans. Scholars at the time explained such similarities by arguing that land bridges had once linked distant continents. Resistant researchers also pointed out that Wegener did not have a full explanation for how the continents had moved. Did they simply plow through the oceanic crust? 3 Wegener’s idea did not gain wide acceptance until the 1950s. When scientists analyzed the magnetic minerals in ancient rocks, they found powerful evidence for the continental drift theory. These minerals act like compasses matching up to the Earth’s magnetic field lines. Since their north-south direction was frozen into place when the molten rock solidified, researchers could tell where they had originally been located and how the continents had moved over time. For example, samples taken from India revealed that the land had previously been in the Southern Hemisphere, as Wegener’s theory had predicted. In the 1960s, the further discovery of seafloor spreading helped to explain the process of continental drift. The seafloor itself moves and carried continents with it. It took almost half a century for Alfred Wegener’s bold proposal to be recognized as a major contribution to scientific understanding. Based on paragraph 2, which sentence best expresses the author’s point of view about Wegener’s theory? It was rejected primarily because other scientists believed it was not based on solid evidence.
It was rejected primarily because he was not considered to be a research scientist.
It was rejected primarily because other scientists were unaccepting of new ideas.
It was rejected primarily because he lacked an explanation for the process of continental drift.
