Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
force the fragments apart,” possibly explaining the “split-up of Gondwanaland”
and the “opening up of the Atlantic Ocean” (178). Here was a mechanism worth
investigating, but only one geologist, whom we have met before, would take it up.
After one more paragraph, the main section of Wegener's topic ends. “
The
forces which displace continents are the same as those which produce great
fold-mountain ranges
,” he concluded. “Continental drift, faults and compressions,
earthquakes, volcanicity, transgression cycles and polar wandering are un-
doubtedly connected causally on a grand scale. However, what is cause and what
effect, only the future will unveil” (179).
Wegener was right. The future would unveil cause and effect, but that future
would be a long time in arriving.
