How Does the Biogeography of Fossils Support Evolutionary Theory

By: BD Editors

Last Updated: July 6, 2017

Paleobiogeography

The theory of the supercontinent Pangea goes hand in hand in with the biogeography of fossils in supporting the evolutionary theory. Today, the fossil record along tectonic plates and the continental coasts are identical in some places, indicating that the land masses were once joined. Further evidence of a single land mass in the past is shown by the current coastlines of the continents that roughly fit together like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The scientist Alfred Wegener introduced the idea continental drift in 1912 to explain the similarities in the fossil record in areas that are now so far apart. It wasn’t until the 1960’s that the idea of continental drift became accepted in the scientific community.

The image above shows the Snider-Pellegrini-Wegener fossil map depicting how plants and animals were distributed across the supercontinent of Pangea about 175 million years ago. This model explains how identical fossils and geological similarities are found in different areas of the world and how populations of species can become isolated and evolve over time.

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