WebQuest
How Many Continents?
STEP 1: OPEN THIS MAP
STEP 2: Pretend the earth is a bathtub, and you just pulled the plug. When the seas have all been drained out, view the map of earth's topography below.
STEP 5: Using your sketched map, answer the following:
STEP 3: Look at the differing shades of blue on the map and describe what they represent.
Look at the areas represented by the lightest blue color, what would you call these?
As you know, over the long run of Earth's history, the level of the seas has not always been the same. During the Ice Ages, when water was locked up
in huge polar ice caps, sea level was so much lower that a land bridge existed between Asia and North America.
Use this map to form a new view of the continents we know from maps showing all the water in place.
STEP 4: Map a sketch and DRAW a NEW MAP of Earth's continents in which the EDGE
of the continental shelf IS the continent BORDER.
STEP 5: Using your sketched map, answer the following:
a. According to this way of looking at the world, how many continents are there?
b. Where else on Earth might land bridges have existed during the Ice Age?
c. How does the appearance of the Caribbean Sea change in this view?
d. What is the relationship between Asia and Australia, and what lands lie between them?
e. What is the relationship between Asia and North America?
f. Could you argue that the Mediterranean is an inland sea within a huge landmass? Why or why not?
g. Does this map support the idea of a continent called Afroeurasia? Explain.
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