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Eurasia (/ j ʊəˈr eɪ ʒ ə / yoor-AY-zhə, also UK: /-ʃ ə /-shə) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. [3] [4] According to some geographers, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. [4]
A supercontinent cycle is the break-up of one supercontinent and the development of another, which takes place on a global scale. [4] Supercontinent cycles are not the same as the Wilson cycle, which is the opening and closing of an individual oceanic basin. The Wilson cycle rarely synchronizes with the timing of a supercontinent cycle. [1]
The fourth-last supercontinent, called Columbia or Nuna, appears to have assembled in the period 2.0–1.8 billion years ago . [ 26 ] [ 27 ] Columbia/Nuna broke up, and the next supercontinent, Rodinia , formed from the accretion and assembly of its fragments.
Baltica is a paleocontinent that formed in the Paleoproterozoic and now constitutes northwestern Eurasia, or Europe north of the Trans-European Suture Zone and west of the Ural Mountains. The thick core of Baltica, the East European Craton, is more than three billion years old and formed part of the Rodinia supercontinent at c. 1 Ga. [1]
Extrapolating the concept to its extreme, some geographers group the Australian continental landmass with other islands in the Pacific Ocean into Oceania, which is usually considered a region rather than a continent. This divides the entire land surface of Earth into continents, regions, or quasi-continents.
The formation of a new “supercontinent” could wipe out humans and all other mammals still alive in 250 million years, researchers have predicted.
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Map of Pangaea with modern continental outlines. The supercontinent cycle is the quasi-periodic aggregation and dispersal of Earth's continental crust.There are varying opinions as to whether the amount of continental crust is increasing, decreasing, or staying about the same, but it is agreed that the Earth's crust is constantly being reconfigured.