Who proposed the continental drift theory?

• A. Alfred Wegner
• B. Charles Darwin
• C. Isaac Newton
• D. Louis Agassiz

Answer: (A)

The idea being tested is who first proposed that continents move across the globe. Alfred Wegener proposed continental drift, arguing that the continents were once joined in a giant landmass called Pangaea and have slowly drifted apart over geologic time. He supported his claim with several lines of evidence: the way coastlines on different continents seem to fit together like puzzle pieces, the matching fossils of ancient species found on now-distant shores, the alignment of mountain ranges and rock types across continents, and clues from ancient climates, such as glacial deposits in regions that are now near the equator.

What made this idea compelling was connecting these diverse observations into a coherent picture of a dynamic Earth, even though Wegener could not explain the mechanism that would move continents—how the continents actually travel through the mantle. That missing piece wasn’t resolved until the development of plate tectonics in the mid-20th century, which showed the processes like sea-floor spreading, subduction, and mantle convection that drive continental movement.

As for the other scientists: Charles Darwin is famous for proposing natural selection as the mechanism of evolution, not for continental movement; Isaac Newton formulated the laws of motion and gravity; Louis Agassiz studied ice ages and glacial phenomena.