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Gondwana ( / ɡɒndˈwɑːnə /) [1] was a large landmass, sometimes referred to as a supercontinent. The remnants of Gondwana make up around two-thirds of today's continental area, including South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia, Zealandia, Arabia, and the Indian Subcontinent. Gondwana was formed by the accretion of several cratons ...
Formed from three cratonic fragments - the Baltic Shield, Sarmatia and Volgo–Uralia. Formed part of Columbia, then Rodinia and Pannotia. Collided with Laurentia and Avalonia to form Laurussia. [1][4][2][10] Cathaysia. 1800. Continent. Fused with the Yangtze block to form the South China Craton during the Early Paleozoic.
The second major phase in the break-up of Pangaea began in the Early Cretaceous (150–140 Ma), when Gondwana separated into multiple continents (Africa, South America, India, Antarctica, and Australia). The subduction at Tethyan Trench probably caused Africa, India and Australia to move northward, causing the opening of a "South Indian Ocean".
The name is a portmanteau of Laurentia and Asia. [2] Laurentia, Avalonia, Baltica, and a series of smaller terranes, collided in the Caledonian orogeny c. 400 Ma to form Laurussia/Euramerica. Laurussia/Euramerica then collided with Gondwana to form Pangaea. Kazakhstania and Siberia were then added to Pangaea 290–300 Ma to form Laurasia.
The East African orogeny resulted in the formation of an enormous mountain chain, known as the Transgondwanan Supermountain, which was more than 8,000 km (5,000 mi)-long and 1,000 km (620 mi)-wide. The sedimentary deposition from this mountain chain, known as the Gondwana Super-fan, exceeded 100 million cubic kilometres (24 million cubic miles ...
Rodinia (from the Russian родина, rodina, meaning "motherland, birthplace" [1][2][3]) was a Mesoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic supercontinent that assembled 1.26–0.90 billion years ago (Ga) [4] and broke up 750–633 million years ago (Ma). [5] Valentine & Moores 1970 were probably the first to recognise a Precambrian supercontinent ...
It is the source of many of the older rocks of Western Europe, Atlantic Canada, and parts of the coastal United States. Avalonia is named for the Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland. Avalonia developed as a volcanic arc on the northern margin of Gondwana. It eventually rifted off, becoming a drifting microcontinent.
Australia was created by the junction of three early pieces of continental crust (cratons). Three areas of the Australian landmass that are made of Archaean rocks are more than 2.5 billion years old, among the oldest known rocks. These igneous and metamorphic rocks are found in the Yilgarn (West) and Pilbara (North) cratons in today's Western ...