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Alexander Du Toit

South African geologist

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Alexander Du Toit was a South African geologist who significantly contributed to the theory of continental drift. He modified Alfred Wegener's hypothesis by proposing that Earth's ancient supercontinent, Pangaea, had actually been composed of two large landmasses: Laurasia in the north and Gondwana in the south. Du Toit meticulously documented evidence, including matching glacial deposits and similar fossil flora and fauna across the southern continents, to support his ideas. His 1937 book, Our Wandering Continents, presented a comprehensive argument for these concepts, though widespread acceptance by Northern Hemisphere scientists was delayed until the development of plate tectonics theory in the 1960s.1234

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