Which Continent Was Once In Control Of Almost The Entire World

Pangaea: Facts about an aboriginal supercontinent

Vector graphic of the land mass of the supercontinent Pangaea_Rainer Lesniewski via Getty Images

A graphic the supercontinent Pangaea (Image credit: Rainer Lesniewski via Getty Images)

About 300 million years ago, Earth didn't accept seven continents, but instead one massive supercontinent chosen Pangaea, which was surrounded past a single body of water called Panthalassa.

The explanation for Pangaea'south formation ushered in the modern theory of plate tectonics, which posits that the Globe'southward outer trounce is broken up into several plates that slide over Earth's rocky shell, the mantle.

Over the form of the planet'southward 4.5 billion-yr history, several supercontinents have formed and broken up, a result of churning and circulation in the Earth's mantle, which makes upwards 84% of the planet'southward volume, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. This breakup and formation of supercontinents has dramatically altered the planet's history.

"This is what's driven the entire evolution of the planet through time. This is the major backbeat of the planet," said Brendan Murphy, a geology professor at the St. Francis Xavier University, in Antigonish, Nova Scotia.

Pangaea's history

More than a century ago, the scientist Alfred Wegener proposed the notion of an ancient supercontinent, which he named Pangaea (sometimes spelled Pangea), later on putting together several lines of show.

The start and well-nigh obvious was that the "continents fit together similar a natural language and groove," something that was quite noticeable on any accurate map, Murphy said. Another telltale hint that Earth's continents were all one country mass comes from the geologic tape. Coal deposits found in Pennsylvania have a similar composition to those spanning across Poland, Great Uk and Federal republic of germany from the same fourth dimension menses. That indicates that North America and Europe must have once been a single landmass. And the orientation of magnetic minerals in geologic sediments reveals how World's magnetic poles migrated over geologic time, Murphy said.

In the fossil record, identical plants, such every bit the extinct seed fern Glossopteris, are found on at present widely disparate continents. And mountain chains that now prevarication on different continents, such as the Appalachians in the United States and the Atlas Mountains spanning Kingdom of morocco, Algeria and Tunisia were all part of the Central Pangaea Mountains, formed through the collision of the supercontinents Gondwana and Laurussia.

The continental drift and the formation of the continents by the separation of Pangaea_Dimitrios Karamitros via Getty Images — The formation of the continents past the separation of Pangaea due to continental migrate. (Image credit: Dimitrios Karamitros via Getty Images)

The word "Pangaea" comes from the Greek "pan," which means "all," and "gaia" or "Earth," according to the Online Etymology Dictionary. The supercontinent formed through a gradual process spanning a few hundred million years.

In the early on Phanerozoic eon (541 million years ago to now), nigh all of the continents were in the Southern Hemisphere, with Gondwana, the largest continent, spanning from the South Pole to the equator, according to a chapter in the scientific volume "Ancient Supercontinents and the Paleogeography of Globe" (Elsevier, 2021). The Northern Hemisphere was largely covered by the Panthalassic Ocean. Another ocean — chosen Iapetus, after a mythical Greek titan — betwixt the paleo-continents Laurentia, Baltica and Gondwana, began to shut during the Ordovician menses (485 million to 444 million years ago) so disappeared during the Silurian period (444 one thousand thousand to 419 million years ago), when Baltica and Avalonia collided with Laurentia to form Laurussia, co-ordinate to the affiliate, "Phanerozoic paleogeography and Pangea."

Finally, about 320 million years ago, there was a major collision, geologically speaking, "when Gondwana, Laurussia, and intervening terranes collided to form the Pangea supercontinent," co-ordinate to the chapter, written by Earth scientists Trond Torsvik, Mathew Domeier and Robin Cocks.

However, Pangaea wasn't the megalithe almost people think it is. "Pangea never included all the continents at whatever one fourth dimension," according to the chapter. For instance, "the Paleotethys Ocean to the east of Pangea remained broad throughout the Carboniferous [359 one thousand thousand to 299 million years agone] and presented something of a barrier between the supercontinent and a number of large, independent Asian terranes, including Tarim, N China, South China, and Annamia."

Later, during the Permian period (299 meg to 251 million years ago), "many quondam peri-Gondwanan terranes drifted off the north-east Gondwana margin, commencing the opening of the Neotethys Ocean," co-ordinate to the chapter.

When did Pangaea interruption apart?

Continental drift. The movement of mainlands on the planet Earth in different periods from 250 MYA to present_Tinkivinki via Getty Images — The motion of mainlands on the planet Globe in different periods from 225 one thousand thousand years ago to nowadays due to continental drift. (Paradigm credit: Tinkivinki via Getty Images)

Pangaea bankrupt up in several phases between 195 million and 170 million years ago. The breakup began about 195 million years ago in the early Jurassic period, when the Central Atlantic Ocean opened, according to the chapter. The supercontinent fractured largely along previous sutures.

Gondwana (what is now Africa, S America, Antarctica, India and Commonwealth of australia) start divide from Laurasia (Eurasia and Northward America). Then nigh 150 one thousand thousand years ago, Gondwana bankrupt up. Republic of india peeled off from Antarctica, and Africa and South America rifted, according to a 1970 article in the Journal of Geophysical Research. Around 60 one thousand thousand years ago, North America dissever off from Eurasia.

Pangaea's climate

Having one massive landmass made for very unlike climatic cycles. For instance, the interior of the continent may have been utterly dry out, equally information technology was locked behind massive mountain chains that blocked all moisture or rainfall, Potato said.

But the coal deposits found in the United States and Europe reveal that parts of the ancient supercontinent near the equator must have been a lush, tropical rainforest, similar to the Amazonian jungle, Potato said. (Coal forms when dead plants and animals sink into swampy water, where pressure and water transform the material into peat, then coal.)

"The coal deposits are substantially telling us that in that location was plentiful life on country," Spud told Live Science.

Climate models confirm that the continental interior of Pangaea was extremely seasonal, according to a 2016 article in the journal Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. The researchers in this study used biological and physical information from the Moradi Formation, a region of layered paleosols (fossil soils) in northern Niger, to reconstruct the ecosystem and climate during the time period when Pangaea existed. Comparable with the modernistic-24-hour interval African Namib Desert and the Lake Eyre Bowl in Australia, the climate was generally arid with short, recurring wet periods that occasionally included catastrophic flash floods.

The climate also influenced where animals lived. During the late Triassic, Reptile-like animals in the family unit Procolophonidae lived in one region, while mammal relatives, known equally cynodonts, lived in another, a 2011 study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found. Cynodonts inhabited ane tropical expanse of Pangaea, where monsoon-like rains fell twice a yr. Up northward, procolophonids lived in temperate regions where it merely rained in one case a year. It's probable that the cynodonts needed a water-rich surface area, which restricted their movements on Pangaea, the researchers said.

"It's interesting that something as basic as how the body deals with waste can restrict the move of an unabridged grouping," Whiteside said in a statement. In drier areas, "the reptiles had a competitive reward over mammals," which is likely why they stayed there, Whiteside said.

Pangaea animals

Frequently mistaken for a dinosaur, this animal was a synapsid, and died out 40 million years before the first dinosaurs appeared. It lived during the early Permian period. — Frequently mistaken for a dinosaur, this animate being — called dimetrodon — was a synapsid, and died out 40 meg years earlier the first dinosaurs appeared. It lived during the early Permian period. (Prototype credit: Marker GARLICK/Science PHOTO LIBRARY via Getty Images)

Pangaea existed for more than 100 million years, and during that time many animal groups thrived. During the Permian period, insects such as beetles and dragonflies flourished, as did the predecessors of mammals: the synapsids. But the existence of Pangaea overlapped with the worst mass extinction in history, the Permian-Triassic (P-TR) extinction result. Also called the Great Dying, it occurred effectually 252 1000000 years agone and caused 96% of all marine species and around lxx% of terrestrial species to go extinct, according to the Geological Society of America.

The early Triassic period saw the ascent of archosaurs, a group of animals that somewhen gave rising to crocodiles, birds and a plethora of reptiles, including pterosaurs. And nigh 230 million years ago some of the primeval dinosaurs emerged on Pangaea, including theropods, largely carnivorous dinosaurs that mostly had air-filled bones and feathers similar to birds.

Cycle in history

The current configuration of continents is unlikely to exist the last. Supercontinents accept formed several times in Earth's history, only to be split off into new continents. Right now for instance, Australia is inching toward Asia, and the eastern portion of Africa is slowly peeling off from the rest of the continent.

Based on the emergence of other supercontinents in the Precambrian supereon (four.5 billion to 541 million years ago), it appears that supercontinents occur periodically every 750 million years, according to a 2012 study in the journal Gondwana Research.

Most scientists believe that the supercontinent bike is largely driven by circulation dynamics in the drapery, co-ordinate to a 2010 article in the Journal of Geodynamics.

Beyond that, the details get fuzzy. While the oestrus formed in the curtain likely comes from the radioactivity of unstable elements, such as uranium, scientists don't agree on whether there are mini-pockets of heat menses within the pall, or if the unabridged shell is one big estrus conveyor belt, Tater said.

Current research on Pangaea

Scientists have created mathematical, 3D simulations to better understand the mechanisms backside continental motion. In a 2018 commodity in the journal Geoscience Frontiers, Earth scientists Masaki Yoshida and M. Santosh explained how they produced simulations of large-scale continental movements since the breakup of Pangaea nigh 200 one thousand thousand years ago. The models show how tectonic plate motion and curtain convection forces worked together to break apart and move large country masses. For instance, Pangaea's large mass insulated the mantle underneath, causing mantle flows that triggered the initial breakup of the supercontinent. Radioactive decay of the upper drape as well raised the temperature, causing upward curtain flows that broke off the Indian subcontinent and initiated its northern movement.

Yoshida and Santos created additional geological models to predict mantle convection and continental movement patterns 250 million years in the hereafter. These models suggest that over millions of years, the Pacific Ocean will close as Australia, North America, Africa, and Eurasia come up together in the Northern Hemisphere. Eventually, these continents will merge, forming a supercontinent called "Amasia." The two remaining continents, Antarctica and South America, are predicted to remain relatively immobile and separate from the new supercontinent.

Additional reporting by Carol Stoll, Live Science contributor

Additional resources

Enroll in the free online Cousera course "Our Earth: Its Climate, History, and Processes" offered by the University of Manchester in the U.K.
U.S. Geological Survey: This Dynamic Earth: The Story of Plate Tectonics
Bank check out this interactive map that shows where modern countries could have sat on the Pangaea supercontinent.

Bibliography

Alive Science. "What is plate tectonics?" May 26, 2021.

U.Southward. Geological Survey. "The Interior of the Globe." Last modified Jan. fourteen, 2011.

Online Etymology Dictionary. "Pangaea."

Torsvik, T.H., et al. "Chapter eighteen - Phanerozoic paleogeography and Pangea. 2021.

Robert S. Dietz,John C. Holden. Journal of Geophysical Research. 1970.

Looy, C.5. et al. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 2016.

Jun Liu and Fernando Abdala. "Early Evolutionary History of the Synapsida." Sept. 21, 2013.

Geological Society of America. "The "Neat Dying." May 19, 2021.

Whiteside, J.H., et al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2011.

Brown University. "On Pangaea, the supercontinent, latitude and pelting dictated where species lived." May 12, 2011.

Joseph K. Meert. Gondwana Research. 2012.

One thousand. Santosh. Journal of Geodynamics. 2010.

Masaki Yoshida and Thousand. Santosh. Geoscience Frontiers. 2018.

Tia is the managing editor and was previously a senior author for Alive Science. Her work has appeared in Scientific American, Wired.com and other outlets. She holds a primary'due south degree in bioengineering from the University of Washington, a graduate certificate in science writing from UC Santa Cruz and a bachelor'south caste in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. Tia was office of a team at the Milwaukee Periodical Sentinel that published the Empty Cradles series on preterm births, which won multiple awards, including the 2012 Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism.