Page:The origin of continents and oceans - Wegener, tr. Skerl - 1924.djvu/136

but only so far as it offers facts on behalf of the displacement theory. As is shown by Fig. 20, according to the displacement theory the continents immediately adjoined each other at the beginning of the Quaternary. The separation may have taken place at the period of maximum glaciation, or, just as possibly, shortly before. In any case, the distance between the blocks was not of any considerable importance when the glaciation was at its maximum;
Fig. 19.—The position (latitude) of Central Europe in the course of the earth's history. on the other hand, the blocks must have been separated considerably by the time of the last glaciation. This conclusion is derived from the consideration of the westerly directed gradient of the strand-lines of Western Norway. It had already been seen that the outermost terminal moraines in Europe and North America join up smoothly. But what is most interesting is the extensive diminution of the total glaciated area according to the displacement