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Continent Puzzle
Cartographer Abraham Ortelius first suggest that continents appear to fit together like a puzzle and theorized they were once one continent. -
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Continental Displacement
Meteorologist and Geophysicist Alfred Wegener proposed a theory of continental displacement where all the continents were once a supercontinent he called Pangea. His theory though was largely dismissed because he was unable to define an engine that moved the continents. -
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Convectional Engine
Geologist Arthur Holmes theorized that convectional currents in the mantle are the driving force that moves the continents. Though his ideas were also widely ignored by he scientific community. -
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Seafloor Spreading
Geophysicist Harry H. Hess and Robert S. Dietz described a phenomenon called seafloor spreading where the seafloor spreads from mid-ocean ridges and plunges beneath th contintents which when combined with Arthur Holmes and Alfred Wegeners theories combined to form the modern Tectonic Theory.