Already in 1573, Galle was so busy that the greater part of the work entrusted to him was carried out by pupils. As evidence, he pointed out that, if you tried putting Africa and South America together, they would fit almost like two puzzle pieces. evidence places in the year 1573, Ortelius writes to Johannes Crato a Crafftheim, that he (Orte-lius) had only with the greatest difficulty pre-vailed on Galle to engrave with his own hand Cratos portrait. Arthur holmes: early supporter of weg(cid:374)er(cid:859)s continental drift theory, earth(cid:859)s (cid:373)a(cid:374)tle co(cid:374)tai(cid:374)s co(cid:374)(cid:448)ectio(cid:374) cells due to radioacti(cid:448)e heat, plates driven by convection currents. In 1596, the Dutch mapmaker Abraham Ortelius suggested that the Americas were torn away from Europe and Africa. 2 tectonic plates are spreading apart along the mid-atlantic ridge. Explaining the opening of atlantic ocean and east africa rift. Formally proposed by american geologist harry h hess. Paleomagnetism: reconstructed locations of continents, 200 ma continents joined together, more importantly, lead to sea floor spreading theory. The concept was independently and more fully developed by Alfred Wegener in 1912, but his theory was rejected by some for. The speculation that continents might have 'drifted' was first put forward by Abraham Ortelius in 1596. Increase lunar gravitation: geophysical force caused by earth rotation (now known too small) Radioactive dating: the absolute age of rocks, look at layer sediments to help. Template:About Template:Use dmy dates Continental drift is the movement of the Earth's continents relative to each other, thus appearing to 'drift' across the ocean bed. Similar geology: type, age, structure of mountain ranges. Alfred wegener: german climatologist, continents moved (concept, wrote a book about this, pangaea, gondwana, laurasia, found that continents actually stay together. Idea that continents and other landmasses have shifted: used to be together, but drifted apart.