Page:The origin of continents and oceans - Wegener, tr. Skerl - 1924.djvu/216



at the first glance the displacement of the continents presents a very variegated picture of different kinds of movements, yet nevertheless there is one great underlying principle: the continental blocks move equatorwards and to the west. It is advisable to consider both the components of this movement separately.

A movement directed towards the equator, the flight from the poles of the continental masses, has already been assumed by several authors, especially Kreichgauer and Taylor. It is very generally recognizable, more with large blocks, less with smaller, and strongest in mean latitudes. It is especially manifest in Eurasia in the arrangement of the great girdle of Tertiary folding of the Himalayas and the Alps, which were formed on the equator of that time, as well as in the bulging compressed outline of the east coast of Asia. The drift from the poles is also very clear in the case of Australia, for this continent is moving to the north-west, as is consistently shown by the deformation of the series of islets forming the Sunda Archipelago, by the high and youthful mountains of New Guinea, and by the south-easterly lag of the