Resumo

PEREZ-MALVAEZ, Carlos; BUENO H, Alfredo; FERIA O, Manuel  e  RUIZ R, Rosaura. Ninety-Four years of the theory of the continental drift of Alfred Lothar Wegener. INCI [online]. 2006, vol.31, n.7, pp.536-543. ISSN 0378-1844.

The theory of continental drift was propounded by Alfred Wegener since 1912. It represents a major advance in the history of science, because it revolutionized the concepts about the terrestrial dynamics. Since it was conceived, the idea of the movement of continents was not only overwhelming but polemic. Alfred Wegener had the merits of being the first to build a congruent explanation about the horizontal movement of continents. He was a soldier of the German army, professor of meteorology, and tireless traveler. Wegener developed a brand new theory with paleontological, geological and geophysical evidences. This work deals with a brief historical reconstruction about the rise and development of the theory of continental drift. At the beginning, it caused a strong polemic among the geologists, paleontologists and geophysicists' communities. Later on, the development of paleomagnetic studies led to the modern theory of plate tectonics. Wegener’s theory was unable to give a clear explanation about the mechanism of such horizontal movements, contrary to plate tectonic theory, which later could construct a convincing explanation based upon studies of the oceanic floor and paleomagnetic data. Although Wegener could not find a satisfactory mechanism to explain the continental drift, he had the merit of gathering all the evidence available at his time to establish in a solid manner the horizontal movement of continents.

Palavras-chave : Deriva Continental ; Pangea ; Puentes Continentales ; Tectónica de Placas .