Pangaea
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- For other uses, see Pangaea (disambiguation)}}}.
Pangaea or Pangea (derived from Παγγαία, Greek for "all earth") is the name given to the supercontinent that is believed to have existed during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras, before the process of plate tectonics separated each of the component continents into their current configuration. The name was apparently first used by the German Alfred Wegener, chief proponent of the continental drift theory, in 1920.
In configuration, Pangaea is believed to have been a C-shaped landmass that spread across the equator. The body of water that was believed to have been enclosed within the resulting crescent has been named the Tethys Sea. Owing to Pangaea's massive size, the inland regions appear to have been very dry, due to the lack of precipitation. The large supercontinent would potentially have allowed terrestrial animals to migrate freely all the way from the South Pole to the North Pole.
The vast ocean that once surrounded the supercontinent of Pangaea has been named Panthalassa. Pangaea is believed to have broken up about 180 million years ago (mya) in the Jurassic Period, first into two supercontinents (Gondwana to the south and Laurasia to the north), thereafter into the continents as we understand them today.
Pangaea was not the first supercontinent believed to have existed. From the evidence available, scientists have reconstructed a predecessor, termed Pannotia, that may have formed about 600 mya, before dividing again some 50 million years later. Another, Rodinia, is believed to have formed approximately 1,100 mya and divided 750 mya.
See also
- Geologic timescale
- Earth's crust
- Plate tectonics
- Supercontinent
- Gondwana
- Laurasia
- Kenorland
- Laurentia
- Columbia
- Amasia
- Pangaea Ultima
- Snowball Earth
- Atlantis
External links
- [USGS Overview]
- [Mov video about the moving of Pangea]
- In honour of Alfred Wegener, at Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) a scientific georeferenced database is called ["PANGAEA"]
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