Paleogeography

  Plate tectonics (the relative movements of the different segments, or plates, of the Earth's crust) has given us further evidence for evolution. As a piece of continental crust separated from another, flora and fauna develops different and unique forms compared to flora and fauna on other continents from the time of separation. This suggests that species evolved from ancestors that were on their continent as it separated. Australia is good example of this. Several unique species exist there because Australia has been isolated for millions of years. This allowed them to follow their own evolutionary path. Examples include the kangaroo and the koala. This is not just true for animals as vegetation has also taken a unique evolutionary path on that continent.

  By the same token, the same fossil plants have been found in Africa and South America up until a certain time. This seems to suggest that the continents were once joined, and this is backed by further evidence: the coastlines of these two continents seem to fit together nicely like a jigsaw puzzle, and they are moving away from each other as new crustal material is forming at the mid Atlantic Ridge, suggesting there were much closer in the past. It is important to have many sources of unrelated evidence. Most fossils have been found to pre-date any hominid form. This suggests that humans are a relative newcomer as far as life on Earth goes. This contradicts the creationist view that all forms of life were created at the same time, and recently--but they have no evidence to support this.