Final answer:
The separation of Africa from South America was caused by a divergent boundary, a type of plate tectonic movement. This process occurred during the break-up of the supercontinent Pangea and helped form the Atlantic Ocean.
Step-by-step explanation:
The type of tectonic plate movement that caused Africa to separate from South America is known as a divergent boundary. This process is part of a broader scientific concept called plate tectonics. When a divergent boundary occurs, it means that lithospheric plates are moving away from each other. In the case of Africa and South America, continental rifting occurred as part of the break-up of the supercontinent Pangea, leading to the formation of the Atlantic Ocean.
Alfred Wegener was the scientist who popularized the theory of continental drift in 1920. He observed how the continents seemed to fit together and proposed that they were once a single landmass. This was later confirmed with more evidence, leading to the modern understanding of plate tectonics. The rifting process caused the separation of the continents and is recorded in geological formations such as the Recôncavo Basin in Brazil.