12-1Cpiecing+together+pangaea

Activity 12-1C: Piecing Together Pangaea
**Purpose**: to see how the continents fitted before Pangaea broke apart.


 * Materials:**


 * photocopy of continents
 * scissors
 * 21.5 X 28 cm sheet of paper
 * glue


 * Procedure**: See page 515 in BC Science 10 textbook.


 * Data**: worksheet will be handed out in class. For reconstruction of Pangaea look for the handed in piece of paper which will be with Mr. Choi.


 * __Analyze__**

1. Matching Africa with South America was the easiest to fit together for me. Both of their shapes fit perfectly together which made for easy matching. The left side of Africa creates an almost semi circular shape that the right side of South America fits perfectly into.

2. I believe that the dinosaur fossils was the easiest tool to use when reconstructing Pangaea. I think this because the way that the dinosaurs migrated and died is a useful way to reconstruct the land. The dinosaurs almost always had a planned route and if we can trace that route then you know where the continents were once placed billions of years ago.

3. (a) Probably the main pieces that I found difficult to place were Greenland and Europe. (b) Some evidence of past fossils may have made it easier to place these pieces in their correct places.


 * __Conclude and Apply__

1. (a) Once all of the pieces were cut out, we proceeded to match the dinosaur fossils as best as we could.we then used the mountain ranges as references and if all else failed, we used the actual shape of the piece to produce the best fit possible. (b) Alfred Wegener used the exact same methods as we did to support the continental drift theory.

2. If we only used one piece of evidence to reconstruct Pangaea then the super-continent would not be fully complete and correct. Using one produces to many variables in the shape of the continent. To produce a good replica you would need several ways to clarify your answer.

3. (a) North America and Eastern Asia and Russia may join together to create another super-continent whilst South America may move down and combine with Antarctica.

(b) British Columbia's ecosystems become harder to come by due to the extreme cold if North America combined with Russia and Asia. British Columbia would be situated near the top of Russia and Russia is a very cold and desolate country. This would make surviving in this environment very hard. **