(a) What do you understand by the theory of ‘continental drift’? Discuss the prominent evidences in its support. (b) The recent cyclone on east coast of India was called ‘Phailin’. How are the tropical cyclones named across the world? Elaborate.

(a) Continental drift and its evidence

Alfred Wegener (1912) proposed that a single supercontinent, Pangaea, surrounded by the mega-ocean Panthalassa, split and its fragments drifted to their present positions.

• Jig-saw fit: the facing coastlines of South America and West Africa match remarkably (later refined as Bullard's fit).
• Geological continuity: the Appalachians align with the Caledonian mountains of Europe across the Atlantic.
• Fossil correlation: Mesosaurus remains occur only in Brazil and southern Africa; Glossopteris flora spans India, Australia, Antarctica, Africa and South America.
• Palaeoclimatic evidence: Permo-Carboniferous glacial tillites in now-tropical India (Talchir), Brazil and Australia, while coal seams occur in cold latitudes.
• Placer deposits: gold placers on the Ghana coast have their source rocks in Brazil.

(b) How tropical cyclones are named

• Naming is done basin-wise by regional bodies under the World Meteorological Organization; six RSMCs (including New Delhi) and five TCWCs issue advisories and assign names.
• For the North Indian Ocean, the WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones — now 13 member countries — contributes name lists used sequentially by RSMC New Delhi; Phailin, meaning sapphire, was Thailand's entry.
• Names must be short, culturally neutral and inoffensive; they are not reused in this basin, and names of very destructive cyclones (like Katrina in the Atlantic) are retired.
• Naming replaced confusing latitude-longitude identification, easing warnings, media communication and disaster response.

Thus drift theory reordered our view of continents, while systematic naming reflects modern coordinated disaster communication.