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Eurasia (/ j ʊəˈr eɪ ʒ ə / yoor-AY-zhə, also UK: /-ʃ ə /-shə) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. [3] [4] According to some geographers, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. [4]
A supercontinent cycle is the break-up of one supercontinent and the development of another, which takes place on a global scale. [4] Supercontinent cycles are not the same as the Wilson cycle, which is the opening and closing of an individual oceanic basin. The Wilson cycle rarely synchronizes with the timing of a supercontinent cycle. [1]
Map of Pangaea with modern continental outlines. 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.
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The movement of plates has caused the continual formation and breakup of continents, and occasionally supercontinents, in a process called the Wilson Cycle. The supercontinent Columbia or Nuna formed during a period of 2.0–1.8 billion years ago and broke up about 1.5–1.3 billion years ago.
Ur is a hypothetical supercontinent that formed in the Archean eon around 3.1 billion years ago (Ga). In a reconstruction by Rogers, Ur is half a billion years older than Arctica and, in the early period of its existence, probably the only continent on Earth, making it a supercontinent despite probably being smaller than present-day Australia.
Vaalbara is a hypothetical Archean supercontinent consisting of the Kaapvaal Craton (now in eastern South Africa) and the Pilbara Craton (now in north-western Western Australia). E. S. Cheney derived the name from the last four letters of each craton's name.
The Aurica hypothesis was created by scholars at the Geological Magazine [1] following an American Geophysical Union study linking the strength of ocean tides to the supercontinent cycle. [2] The name is a portmanteau of America and Australia, which form the core of the supercontinent. The study noted that "When tectonic plates slide, sink and ...