dance of the continents

I learned that plates with similar land boundaries may have once been connected due to similar rock and landforms. This theory of Continental drift was first proposed in 1913 by Alfred Wegner who came up with a theory that the continents were once connected as a super continent known as Pangaea. It was not taken seriously due to lack of knowledge of the ocean floor and the fact he was a meteorologist. However, as technology expanded throughout the 20th century, they learned more about the ocean. In 1960, Hess applied Wegners theory and updated it to recent discoveries to form the theory of Seafloor spreading. They also discovered that the continents move due to sea floor expansion which is caused by magma rising to the surface. This proved that the earth is divided into 6 separate plates. It was later expanded to smaller plates.