Alfred Wegener proposed that the driving force behind continental drift was related to the Earth's rotation. Specifically, he suggested that the continents were pulled apart by the centrifugal pseudoforce (called "pole- fleeing force") generated by the rotation of the Earth, which acted to push continents away from the poles toward the equator. He also considered a small component of astronomical precession and gravitational forces from the sun and moon as possible contributors. However, these forces were later calculated to be insufficient to cause continental movement
. Wegener believed that the continents, composed of lighter granitic rocks, floated on the denser oceanic crust and were propelled by these rotational forces, effectively "plowing" through the ocean floor
. Despite his compelling evidence for continental drift, the lack of a convincing physical mechanism for the movement led to skepticism among scientists at the time
. Modern understanding attributes continental drift to mantle convection and tectonic forces rather than the Earth's rotation. Some recent studies propose that gravitational slip of the continental crust and mantle upwelling provide the main driving forces, but these ideas developed well after Wegener's time
. In summary, Wegener proposed the Earth's rotation-induced centrifugal force as the primary driving force behind continental drift, though this explanation was later found inadequate by subsequent research
