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Avalonia is the largest of the peri-Gondwanan terranes, a series of continental blocks that more or less simultaneously broke off the margins of the southern supercontinent Gondwana and therefore share an early Paleozoic marine fauna. They were pulled northward and eventually collided to form the Appalachian, Caledonide, and Variscan orogens ...
Gondwana (/ ɡ ɒ n d ˈ w ɑː n ə /) [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.
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 Tethys Ocean splitting Laurasia from Gondwana. Dinosaurs evolved partway through the Triassic period of the Mesozoic era, around 230 Ma (million years ago). At that time, the earth had one supercontinental landmass, called Pangaea, of which Europe was a part. So it remained throughout the Triassic.
Location of the Hercynian-Alleghenian mountain belts in the middle of the Carboniferous period.Present day coastlines are indicated in grey for reference. [1]The Variscan orogeny, or Hercynian orogeny, was a geologic mountain-building event caused by Late Paleozoic continental collision between Euramerica (Laurussia) and Gondwana to form the supercontinent of Pangaea.
Five hundred million years ago, in the Ordovician period, southern Great Britain, the east coast of North America and south-east Newfoundland broke away from Gondwana to form the continent of Avalonia, which by 440 Ma had drifted (by the mechanisms of plate tectonics) to about 30° south. During this period, north Wales was subject to volcanic ...
The Ordovician (/ ɔːr d ə ˈ v ɪ ʃ i. ə n,-d oʊ-,-ˈ v ɪ ʃ ən / or-də-VISH-ee-ən, -doh-, - VISH-ən) [9] is a geologic period and system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era, and the second of twelve periods of the Phanerozoic Eon.
The Rheic Ocean (/ ˈ r eɪ ɪ k /; RAY-ik) was an ocean which separated two major paleocontinents, Gondwana and Laurussia (Laurentia-Baltica-Avalonia).One of the principal oceans of the Paleozoic, its sutures today stretch 10,000 km (6,200 mi) from Mexico to Turkey and its closure resulted in the assembly of the supercontinent Pangaea and the formation of the Variscan–Alleghenian–Ouachita ...