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When did scientists determine the jigsaw puzzle fit of the continents?
Continents During the Triassic Period
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The actual connection between the continental fit (the idea that continents fit together like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle) was first proposed in 1858 by Antonio Snider-Pellegrini (1802–1885). Other scientists mentioned this idea for years afterward, but it was not until 1912 that German meteorologist and geologist Alfred Wegener (1880–1930) expanded the theory, suggesting that the continents at one time formed a supercontinent he called Pangea (or Pangaea). Wegener’s theory was not taken seriously until about the 1960s, when scientists believed they had finally worked out a mechanism (plate tectonics) for the movement of the continental plates.