which plays an important role in moving lithosphere plates.
             Alfred Wegener, a German meteorologist, originally proposed continental drift in 1912. This geologist Wegener used the fit of the continents, the distribution of fossils, a similar sequence of rocks at numerous locations, ancient climates, and the apparent wandering of the Earth's polar regions to support his idea. Wegener used his observations to hypothesize that all of the present-day continents were once part of a single super continent called Pangaea. Fossils of the same species were found on several different continents. Wegener proposed that the species dispersed when the continents were connected and later carried to their present positions as the continents drifted. For example, the specie Glossopteris, a fern, was found on the continents of South America, Africa, India, and Australia. The distribution of other species can also be accounted for by initially spreading across Pangaea, followed by the breakup of the super continent, and movement of the continents to their present positions.
             Rock sequences in South America, Africa, India, Antarctica, and Australia show remarkable similarities. Wegener showed that the same three layers occur at each of these localities. The bottom (oldest) layer is called tillite and is thought to be a glacial deposit. The middle layer is composed of sandstone, shale, and coal beds. Glossopteris fossils are in the bottom and middle layers. The top (youngest) layer is lava flows. The same three layers are in the same order in areas just separated by great distances. Wegener proposed that the rock layers were made when all the continents were part of Pangaea. Thus, they formed in a smaller contiguous area that was later broken and drifted apart.
             Glaciers covered all or part of each of these continents during the same time period in the geologic past. If the continents were in their present position, a major glaciation event that cover...