continental drift

noun
1.
Geology. the lateral movement of continents resulting from the motion of crustal plates.
Compare plate tectonics.
Origin
1925-30
Examples from the web for continental drift
  • Introduce to students the theories of plate tectonics and continental drift with a simple, hands-on experiment.
  • There are many answers to these problems if you allow such devices as treadmills, continental drift, and wormholes.
  • The processes that drive continental drift are not fully understood.
British Dictionary definitions for continental drift

continental drift

noun
1.
(geology) the theory that the earth's continents move gradually over the surface of the planet on a substratum of magma. The present-day configuration of the continents is thought to be the result of the fragmentation of a single landmass, Pangaea, that existed 200 million years ago See also plate tectonics
Word Origin and History for continental drift

1925, a translation of German Kontinentalverschiebung, proposed 1912 by German scientist Alfred Wegener (1880-1930); the theory was not widely accepted until after c.1950.

continental drift in Science
continental drift  
A theory stating that the Earth's continents have been joined together and have moved away from each other at different times in the Earth's history. The theory was first proposed by Alfred Wegener in 1912. While his general idea of continental movement eventually became widely accepted, his explanation for the mechanism of the movement has been supplanted by the theory of plant tectonics. See more at plate tectonics.
continental drift in Culture

continental drift definition


A term, no longer used by geologists, that refers to the fact that continents are not stationary, but move across the Earth's surface. Continental drift is one feature of the modern theory of plate tectonics. (See Pangaea.)

continental drift in Technology


In 1980 David Turner remarked that KRC ran "at the speed of the continental drift".
(1994-12-06)