how did wegener use the shapes of the continents as evidence that the continents had moved?

Alfred Wegener argued that the continents had once been joined together by treating their shapes like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that used to fit into one large supercontinent (Pangaea).

How Wegener Used Continent Shapes as Evidence

• Wegener noticed that the east coast of South America and the west coast of Africa match closely in outline, almost as if they were once connected and later pulled apart.

• He extended this idea to other continents, showing that when you “push” the continents back together, their continental shelves (the true edges of the continents under the ocean) line up even better than the visible shorelines.

• He compared the fit to tearing a sheet of paper into pieces: if you slide the pieces back together, the edges match, just like the continents do when reconstructed into Pangaea.

• From this puzzle‑like fit, he reasoned that the continents had once formed a single landmass and later drifted to their current positions, so their matching shapes were evidence that the continents had moved.

In One Simple Sentence

Wegener used the matching, puzzle‑like shapes of continent edges—especially when considering the continental shelves—to argue that the continents were once joined and have since drifted apart.

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