Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Pangaea or Pangea (/ p æ n ˈ dʒ iː ə / pan-JEE-ə) [1] was a supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras. [2] It assembled from the earlier continental units of Gondwana , Euramerica and Siberia during the Carboniferous approximately 335 million years ago, and began to break apart about 200 million years ...
The first major unit of time it contained was the Cambrian period of the Paleozoic era. [6] At the time, Earth's continents were in a very different arrangement and were generally smaller than they are today. The southeastern part of the US was connected to South America and Africa and located in the polar latitudes of the southern hemisphere.
The geological timeline of Western North America includes significant geological events over millions of years in the evolution of Western North America, including several tectonic plate interactions involving the North American Plate and leading to the formation of various mountain ranges and seaways.
As Pangea rifted apart a new passive tectonic margin was born, and the forces that created the Appalachian, Ouachita, and Marathon Mountains were stilled. Weathering and erosion prevailed, and the mountains began to wear away. [10] By the end of the Mesozoic, the Appalachian Mountains had been eroded to an almost-flat plain. [10]
The supercontinent Pangaea was rifting during the Triassic—especially late in the period—but had not yet separated. The first nonmarine sediments in the rift that marks the initial break-up of Pangea—which separated New Jersey from Morocco—are of Late Triassic age; in the U.S., these thick sediments comprise the Newark Supergroup. [44]
Map of Earth during the Early Permian, around 285 million years ago, showing Central Pangean mountain range at equator. The Central Pangean Mountains were formed during the collision of Euramerica and northern Gondwana as part of the Variscan and Alleghanian orogenies, which began during the Carboniferous approximately 340 million years ago, and complete by the beginning of the Permian around ...
The map of North America with the Western Interior Seaway during the Campanian. The Western Interior Seaway (also called the Cretaceous Seaway, the Niobraran Sea, the North American Inland Sea, or the Western Interior Sea) was a large inland sea that split the continent of North America into two landmasses for 34 million years.
End-Capitanian extinction event: 260 Ma: Volcanism from the Emeishan Traps, [28] resulting in global cooling and other effects Olson's Extinction: 270 Ma Unknown. [29] [30] [31] Possibly a change in climate, but evidence for this is weak. [32] This event may actually be a slow decline over 20 Ma. [33] Carboniferous: Carboniferous rainforest ...