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Pangaea

Also known as Pangea, Pangæa

AI overview

Pangaea was a supercontinent that formed around 335 million years ago from the merger of earlier continents and began breaking apart about 200 million years ago, eventually creating the continents we see today. Understanding Pangaea helps explain why the continents fit together like puzzle pieces, why similar fossils and rock formations appear on distant continents, and how Earth's geography and life have changed dramatically over geological time.

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Wikidata facts

Image: Pangea animation 03.gif

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Commons category: Pangea
end time: 200000000-
Commons gallery: Pangea

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~29 min read

Article

27 sections

Contents

Origin of the concept
Evidence of existence
Formation
Previous supercontinents
Formation of Euramerica (Laurussia)
Collision of Gondwana with Euramerica
Formation of Laurasia
Paleogeography
Geography during the Carboniferous
Geography during the Permian
Geography during the Triassic
Geography during the Jurassic
Paleoclimate
Interior climate
Oceanic influences
Monsoons and rainfall
Post-breakup
Life
Mass extinctions
Rifting and break-up
Opening of the Atlantic
Break-up of Gondwana
Opening of the Norwegian Sea and break-up of Australia and Antarctica
See also
References
Sources
External links

thumb|270x270px|Map of Pangaea around 250 million years ago, at the beginning of the Triassic Pangaea or Pangea ( ) was a supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras. It assembled from the earlier continental units of Gondwana, Euramerica and Siberia during the Carboniferous period approximately 335 million years ago, and began to break apart about 200 million years ago, at the end of the Triassic and beginning of the Jurassic. Pangaea was C-shaped, with the bulk of its mass stretching between Earth's northern and southern polar regions and surrounded by the superocean Panthalassa and the Paleo-Tethys and subsequent Tethys Oceans. Pangaea is the most recent supercontinent to have existed and was the first to be reconstructed by geologists.thumb|The supercontinent Pangaea in the early Mesozoic (at 200 Megaannum|Ma)|270x270px

== Origin of the concept == thumb|left|upright|Alfred Wegener –1930 thumb|World map of Pangaea created by Alfred Wegener to illustrate his concept