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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 ...
c. 180 Ma – Pangaea splits into two major continents: Laurasia in the north and Gondwana in the south. c. 176 Ma – First stegosaurs. c. 170 Ma – First salamanders and newts evolve. Cynodonts go extinct. c. 165 Ma – First rays and glycymeridid bivalves. c. 164 Ma – The first gliding mammal, volaticotherium, appears in the fossil record.
Nevertheless, the era featured the dramatic rifting of the supercontinent Pangaea. Pangaea gradually split into a northern continent, Laurasia, and a southern continent, Gondwana. This created the passive continental margin that characterizes most of the Atlantic coastline (such as along the U.S. East Coast) today.
It separated from Gondwana (beginning in the late Triassic period) during the breakup of Pangaea, drifting farther north after the split and finally broke apart with the opening of the North Atlantic Ocean c. 56 Mya. The name is a portmanteau of Laurentia and Eurasia. [2]
The supercontinent known as Pangea existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras and began to rift around 200 million years ago. [3] [4] Pangea had three major phases of breakup. The first major phase began in the Early-Middle Jurassic, taking place between North America and Africa. [5]
Pangaea's supercontinent cycle is a good example of the efficiency of using the presence or lack of these entities to record the development, tenure, and break-up of supercontinents. There is a sharp decrease in passive margins between 500 and 350 Ma during the timing of Pangaea's assembly.
Gondwana formed part of Pangaea for c. 150 Ma [31] Gondwana and Laurasia formed the Pangaea supercontinent during the Carboniferous. Pangaea began to break up in the Mid-Jurassic when the Central Atlantic opened. [32] In the western end of Pangaea, the collision between Gondwana and Laurasia closed the Rheic and Paleo-Tethys oceans.
Pangaea Proxima ~250 myf [3] Novopangaea ~250 myf [26] Aurica ~250 myf [26] Amasia ~250 myf [26] References This page was last edited on 17 December 2024, at 21: ...