Plate Movement and the Fossil Record
The effect of continental configuration has had a dramatic impact on the Earth’s history. Although slowly, the Earth’s tectonic plates are always in motion, meaning that the arrangements of continents is dynamic. Knowing the previous arrangements of continents can help to understand the climate systems of the time. Fundamental components to how we know the world today like the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic and the Antarctic Circumpolar Current in the South would not be present in different continental arrangements. Scientists can use many different methods to determine previous continental positions, but analysis of the fossil record is the most telling with regard to life during a continental arrangement’s respective time period
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___All Content © 2007___ Jack Ludwig, Travis Haby, _____Nate Flint____ Colorado College
