“Volcanic and seismic events are major pieces of evidence towards proving that plate tectonics theory is valid”. Discuss the extent to which you agree with this statement.

Plate tectonics is the theory that suggests that the Lithosphere is separated up into approximately twelve plates that can be moved around via convection currents, changing the land and sea formations across the globe. Since interest began during the early 20th century a variety of propositions have been put forward to suggest the existence of plate tectonics. The most prominent of these theories is the existence of seismic waves and volcanic activity, especially the location and distribution of these. Along with these theories is the discovery of fossils and their locations across the globe, as well as the shape of the existing continents and the “jigsaw” theory. During the 17th century Francis Bacon noted that the West coast of Africa and Europe coincidentally looked as though they would fit with the East coast of the Americas. However, Bacon had little evidence for this theory, meaning it was swiftly forgotten. During the 1920’s, Alfred Wegner, proposed that the formation of the continents today has occurred via continental drift. However, Wegner goes on to suggest that 300 million years ago there was a single landmass, commonly known as Pangaea, as shown in Figure 1.1. Pangaea was one supercontinent that existed during the late Palaeozoic and carrying on into the early Mesozoic eras. It consisted of one huge land mass located in the southern hemisphere and was surrounded by one huge ocean. This modern theory is generally globally accepted, with valid evidence to back it up with, for example, the distribution of fossils, the earths geology, coal deposits and fauna and flora deposits.
Figure 1.1: World map of what Pangaea would have looked like 300 million years ago.
Figure 1.2: Shows