Unproven Theory
At first, scientists rejected Wegener’s theory as being highly unlikely. One common theory at the time was that the Earth was constantly expanding in size, not rearranging itself. This was not true. During his lifetime, Wegener could not actually prove his theory of continental drift. It was just a hypothesis. The technological instruments needed to prove the theory were not available until the 1950s, long after his death.
Carbon Dating
With modern satellite photos and radiometric dating, scientists have proven the age of the Earth’s crust. For samples older than 70,000 years, they used radiometric dating. This technology is based on carbon dating useful for items up to 50,000 years old. Devised in the 1950s, it detects and records the amount of carbon in fossils (dead organisms), wood or rocks and compares it to the levels of carbon and oxygen in the atmosphere. A certain amount of carbon is expected in a sample from the early 19th century and a different amount of carbon from the 17th century. Archaeologists discovered that fossils of the same species were found on different continents using radiometric dating. For example, the east coast
of South America in areas like Brazil had similar plant life as areas of Western Africa even though they are thousands of kilometers apart