for alfred wegener it seemed very obvious by looking at the continents that they fit together like a puzzle and at one time was one big continent but in order to prove that the continents have shifted over time alfred wagner needed more evidence welcome to moomoomath and science and evidence for continental drift continental drift proposed that at one time the land was one large landmass that drifted apart slowly over time if you travel to iceland you can see the boundaries of large continental plates these huge plates continue to move at about the rate that your fingernails grow the theory of continental drift is now accepted so let's take a look at some of the supporting evidence first and pretty obvious if you take a look at a world map it seems like the continents fit together like puzzle pieces in particular the coastlines of south america and africa seem to match up very well second is glacial evidence similar glacial scrapings are found in africa south america india and australia now let's take a look at fossil evidence fossils of a mesosaurus a freshwater crocodile-like reptile that lived millions of years ago are found in southern africa and eastern south america it would have been almost impossible for the mesosaurus to swim between the continents and suggest that south america and africa were joined at one time cenonathis is an extinct mammal-like reptiles its fossils are found in south africa and south america the fossils of the reptile lysosaurus are found in antarctica india and south america the fossils of a plant glossopharteris which was a woody seed bearing shrub or tree are found in australia south america south africa india antarctica all this fossil evidence suggests that the continents were at one time one big landmass wagner also matched up mountain ranges across the atlantic ocean the appalachian mountains which were just like mountain ranges in eastern greenland ireland great britain and norway wegner concluded that they formed as a single mountain range this mountain range broke apart as the continent split up next wegner noted the deposits of coal in south polar regions the fossils of tropical plants in the form of coal deposits were found in antarctica this suggests that the landmass was previously much closer to the equator where the climate is temperate and vegetation can grow unfortunately alfred wegener died on an expedition at the age of 50 before his theory of continental drift was widely accepted thanks for watching and remember kindness multiplies kindness be kind to someone today