Continental Drift In Australia

Continental Drift

The world has not always looked how it does today. Gondwana, originally known as 'Gondwanaland', was an ancient southern supercontinent that formed as the result of the division of a much larger supercontinent known as Pangaea. Pangaea existed around 500 million years ago until 150 to 300 million years ago when it broke apart to form the super continents Gondwana and Laurasia. Gondwana was composed of South America, Africa, Madagascar, India, Australia, Antarctica, the Arabian Peninsula and the Indian Subcontinent. The weather and climate on Gondwana was on average considerably warmer than today, however there were very different climatic cycles over millions of years. The inland parts of Gondwana were dry, since they were closed in by large mountain chains that blocked all rainfall, however parts of the supercontinent near the equator were lush, tropical rainforest.

His theory was that the continents were always moving or drifting away from one another, however his idea was rejected from the lack of a mechanism. Nowadays, it is known that the continents rest on large slabs of rock called tectonic plates. The pates are constantly moving and interacting in a process called plate tectonics. The movement of Earth's tectonic plates formed Gondwana and broke it apart. The tectonic plates move as a consequence of mid oceanic ridges where adjacent plates are forced apart in different directions. Convection currents, seafloor spreading and rift valleys also drive the movement of the Earth’s plates. When Gondwana drifted apart, Antarctica, South America, Africa and Australia moved into the southern hemisphere and the Arabian Peninsula and the Indian Subcontinent moved into the northern hemisphere. The tectonic plates are always moving and the Australian plate is moving northwards at about 3cm per