RAS question
The concept of 'Continental Drift' was proposed by:
Correct answer: (A) Alfred Wegener.
Alfred Wegener proposed the concept of continental drift in 1912, arguing that the continents had once been joined and later drifted apart.
Explanation
Alfred Wegener is the relevant name because the question asks who proposed continental drift, not who later explained plate movement. Wegener proposed the theory in 1912, suggesting that the continents had once formed Pangaea and then moved apart. NASA Science describes Wegener's January 1912 presentations in Germany, where he rejected sunken land bridges and instead argued for drifting continents and widening seas. That is the core idea behind continental drift. The theory was not the complete modern mechanism of plate tectonics, but it became an important foundation for later plate-tectonic thinking.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) Arthur Holmes is associated here with convection current theory, which concerns a possible driving mechanism rather than the original proposal of continental drift.
- (C) Harry Hess is linked here to seafloor spreading, a later idea about ocean floors, not the first statement of continental drift.
- (D) J. Tuzo Wilson is associated here with hot spots and plate boundaries, so his work belongs to later plate-tectonic development rather than Wegener's continental-drift proposal.
Concept
This tests the World Geography concept of continental drift within the broader plate-tectonics sequence. RAS repeats it because it links physical geography, geomorphology and the historical development of Earth-science theories.