Page:The origin of continents and oceans - Wegener, tr. Skerl - 1924.djvu/218

wards in the sima. Thus the Pangæa of the Carboniferous era had already an anterior margin (America), which became folded (Precordilleras), on account of the resistance of the viscous sima; and a posterior margin (Asia), from which littoral ranges and fragments became detached, and remained fast in the sima of the Pacific as groups of islands. This contrast between the east and west shores of our largest ocean is now strikingly evident, especially in Eastern Asia, where the great process of the detachment and abandoning of numerous marginal ranges is taking place, favoured by the meridional compression. The continental lobes of Further India and of the Sunda Islands, which are stretched towards the south, show a lag towards the east, and testify to the westward drift just as much as the similarly directed detachment of Ceylon from the southern point of India. South of this, in the Australian region, the same processes are taking place, as is shown by the lagging behind of the New Zealand festoon, and the north-westerly advance of the Australian block. The same phenomena as on the coast of Eastern Asia are again also met with on the east coast of America. The Antilles form a beautiful example in Central America of festoons lagging behind to the east; from which it is important to notice that the small islands lag more than the greater. The continental shelf of Florida remains behind in the east just as the southern point of Greenland does. In South America the masses of the Abrolhos Bank emerge from under the continent through the easterly lag; the area neighbouring the Drake Straits, with its trailing points of the mainland and the connecting chains remaining far behind, has already been used as illustrating a standard example of the westward displacement. In Africa the drift to the west manifests itself in the lagging behind in the east of the