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Pannotia was centred on the South Pole, hence its name. Pannotia (from Greek: pan-, "all", -nótos, "south"; meaning "all southern land"), also known as the Vendian supercontinent, Greater Gondwana, and the Pan-African supercontinent, was a relatively short-lived Neoproterozoic supercontinent that formed at the end of the Precambrian during the Pan-African orogeny (650–500 Ma), during the ...
In geology, a supercontinent is the assembly of most or all of Earth's continental blocks or cratons to form a single large landmass. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] However, some geologists use a different definition, "a grouping of formerly dispersed continents", which leaves room for interpretation and is easier to apply to Precambrian times. [ 4 ]
Animation of the break-up of the supercontinent Pangaea and the subsequent drift of its constituents, from the Early Triassic to recent (250 Ma to 0).. This is a list of paleocontinents, significant landmasses that have been proposed to exist in the geological past.
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.
The beginning of the Paleozoic Era witnessed the breakup of the supercontinent of Pannotia [12] [13] and ended while the supercontinent Pangaea was assembling. [14] The breakup of Pannotia began with the opening of the Iapetus Ocean and other Cambrian seas and coincided with a dramatic rise in sea level. [15]
Rodinia formed at c. 1.23 Ga by accretion and collision of fragments produced by breakup of an older supercontinent, Columbia, assembled by global-scale 2.0–1.8 Ga collisional events. [7] Rodinia broke up in the Neoproterozoic, with its continental fragments reassembled to form Pannotia 633–573 Ma.
Named global superoceans include Mirovia, which surrounded the supercontinent Rodinia, and Panthalassa, which surrounded the supercontinent Pangaea. Pannotia and Columbia , along with landmasses before Columbia (such as Ur and Kenorland ), were also surrounded by superoceans.
Around 1.07 Ga, Laurentia was part of the supercontinent Rodinia. Around 750 Ma, Laurentia was part of the landmass Protolaurasia. Laurentia nearly rifted apart. In the Ediacaran (635 to 541 ±0.3 Ma), Laurentia was part of the supercontinent Pannotia. In the Cambrian (541 ±0.3 to 485.4 ±1.7 Ma), Laurentia was an independent continent.