Continental Drift and Plate Tectonics

In 1912 Alfred Wegenerpublished a theory to explain why theEarth looked like a huge jigsaw. He believed the continents were once joined forming a supercontinent he called Pangaea. Over 180 million years ago this supercontinent began to "break up" due to continental drift.

During the 20th Century, scientists developed the theory of Plate Tectonics. The theory suggested that the crust of theEarth is split up into seven large plates (see map below) and a few smaller ones, all of which are able to slowly move around on theEarth's surface. They float on the semi-molten mantle rocks, and are moved around by convection currents within the very hot rocks.