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Pangaea (Greek for "all lands") is the name Alfred Wegener used to refer to the supercontinent that existed during the Mesozoic era, before the process of plate tectonics separated the component continents. Pangæa broke up about 200 million years ago (mya). When the continents first came together to form Pangæa, mountains were formed, and some of these ranges still exist, such as the Appalachians, the Atlas Mountains, and the Urals. The vast ocean that surrounded Pangæa has been named Panthalassa.
Pangæa was a C-shaped landmass that spread across the equator. The body of water that existed within the "C" has been named the Tethys Sea. Because Pangea was so big, the inland was very dry due to the lack of precipitation. The large continent would have allowed land animals to migrate all the way from the South Pole to the North Pole.
The mantle under Pangæa's former location was still hot and trying to rise upward. As a result, Africa sat several tens of meters higher than the other continents.
Pangæa was probably not the first "supercontinent." It's believed that Pannotia formed about 600 mya and split up 550 mya. Also, Rodinia had formed approximately 1,100 mya and divided 750 mya.
During the Jurassic period, Pangæa broke into two parts: a southern part, Gondwana, and a northern part, Laurasia.
External links
- USGS Overview (http://pubs.usgs.gov/publications/text/historical.html)
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