Facts About Pangaea, Ancient Supercontinent
By Tia Ghose, Associate Editor | February 22, 2018 07:30pm ET
- click for image -
https://img.purch.com/h/1400/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5saXZlc2NpZW5jZS5jb20vaW1hZ2VzL2kvMDAwLzA0Ny8zMzQvb3JpZ2luYWwvUGFuZ2FlYS5qcGc=
Facts About Pangaea, Ancient Supercontinent
The breakup of the Pangaea supercontinent.
Credit: U.S. Geological Survey
About 300 million years ago, Earth didn't have seven continents, but instead one massive supercontinent called Pangaea, which was surrounded by a single ocean called Panthalassa.
The explanation for Pangaea's formation ushered in the modern theory of plate tectonics, which posits that the Earth's outer shell is broken up into several plates that slide over Earth's rocky shell, the mantle.
Over the course of the planet's 3.5 billion-year history, several supercontinents have formed and broken up, a result of churning and circulation in the Earth's mantle, which makes up most of planet's volume. This breakup and formation of supercontinents has dramatically altered the planet's history.
"This is what's driven the entire evolution of the planet through time. This is the major backbeat of the planet," said Brendan Murphy, a geology professor at the St. Francis Xavier University, in Antigonish, Nova Scotia.
More:
https://www.livescience.com/38218-facts-about-pangaea.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
