12-1C+Piecing+Together


 * Activity 12-1C Pre-Lab **
 * PIECING TOGETHER PANGAEA **

** Purpose : ** To find out how all the continents fit together.

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**Materials: Photo copy of continents Scissors 21.5cm x28 cm sheet of paper Glue

Procedure:** See page 515

1) Africa and South America were the easiest to piece together because of their similar shapes. It's almost like a puzzle. 2) The continents with fossils were to the easiest to join because they had drawings of animals that fit together and outlines of paths that were easy to connect. There were 4 types of fossils so it was easy to figure out which pieces grouped together.  3)a) I found Madagascar very difficult to place. b)It would have been easier if there were some fossils.

1)  a) I did it like a puzzle.First I started with the pieces that contained fossils. I put them in groups according to their fossil type and I started to connect them. Then i connected all the groups of fossils together. After that all i had left was North America, Europe and Greenland. Assuming that North America was above South America, i placed it there and soon discovered the folds that matched. Then I connected Greenland to Africa and finally Europe to Greenland. b) **  The process i took was similar to Wegener's because, like him, looked for patterns. We both looked at fossil and mountain range similarities in order to piece together Pangaea's map. I looked on the internet to find fossil similarities. 2)I didn't think one piece of evidence would be enough proof. If a TREX walked in china and in the USA doesn't meant that they both were connected. 3a)I think in the future Asia and North America would be connected because every year North America moves west approximately 3 inches and asia moves east 3 inches. b) I think we will have similar weather patterns to the Chinese because our countries would be so close.
 * Conclude and Apply

During this activity I learnt that all continents are joined. Although I had an idea that they could have been connected before because of the shape of South America and Africa. But this activity strenghtened my curiosity. Before this activity i didnt know where all the continents were placed. Also i learnt that fossils, glacial deposits, matching folded mountains and coal deposits were all used to figure out that