Many tropical plant fossils have been found in Antarctica, which is definitely not a tropical place. There is a widely accepted theory that explains all of this: plate tectonics. Plate tectonics is the theory that the earth's crust is made up of tectonic plates. These plates "float" on the mantle, which moves due to convection currents. The plates each contain a different amount of ocean and land. When the plates move, it drastically changes the landscape. Many years ago, the plate that contains Antarctica was in a very different place.
Pangaea was the second known supercontinent on the face of the Earth. During the time of Pangaea, all of the land was a central mass surrounded by a global ocean. This mass was near the equator and had many tropical regions. When the movement of the plates broke up Pangaea, the bits of land took their fossils with them. Some of the fossils were tropical ones, and some of the plates went to very nontropical regions. This led to scientists theorizing that some landmasses were once in different places.
Other pieces of evidence helped with that theory, too. The fossils of numerous non-aquatic dinosaurs were found around the coasts South America and Africa. This also suggests that the continents were once joined. There are also broken up rock deposits and glacier paths that can be connected to re-piece the continents.
Pangaea was the second known supercontinent on the face of the Earth. During the time of Pangaea, all of the land was a central mass surrounded by a global ocean. This mass was near the equator and had many tropical regions. When the movement of the plates broke up Pangaea, the bits of land took their fossils with them. Some of the fossils were tropical ones, and some of the plates went to very nontropical regions. This led to scientists theorizing that some landmasses were once in different places.
Other pieces of evidence helped with that theory, too. The fossils of numerous non-aquatic dinosaurs were found around the coasts South America and Africa. This also suggests that the continents were once joined. There are also broken up rock deposits and glacier paths that can be connected to re-piece the continents.
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