Question

Which of the following was missing from Alfred Wegener's hypothesis? a. similar fossils on widely separated continents b. the geometrical fit between South America and Africa paleomagnetic c. data from ocean crust d. late Paleozoic glacial features

Answer 1

Answer: c. paleomagnetic data from ocean crust

Explanation:

Alfred Wegener was a German meteorologist and geophysicist, who in 1915 published his work "The Origin of Continents and Oceans" with a hypothesis that was radical for his time.  

In this publication he proposed that during the end of the Paleozoic period and the beginning of the Mesozoic period the land masses were united in a single supercontinent, which he called Pangea, which was surrounded by a huge ocean, which he called Panthalassa. As proof of this, he was based on the way in which the coasts of Africa and South America seemed to fit on each side of the Atlantic Ocean, as if it were a puzzle. In addition to the distribution of certain geological formations, native flora and fauna and the fossils found in the northern continents and places currently geographically far from each other.

At the time, this idea was not accepted and Wegener was ridiculed by the scientific community, because despite its evidence, in its publication did not explain how those land masses moved.  

Years later, in the decade of 1960, the theory of plate tectonics related to the movement of the continents according to the paleomagnetic evidence was developed and it was shown that Wegener was right.