The Panagea Tales Box Set: The Complete Epic Fantasy Series

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Valentine, J. W. & Moores, E. M. Plate-tectonic regulation of faunal diversity and sea level: A model. Nature 228, 657–659 (1970).

Zhang, N., Zhong, S., Leng, W. & Li, Z.-X. A model for the evolution of the Earth’s mantle structure since the Early Paleozoic. J. Geophys. Res. Solid Earth 115, B06401 (2010). The tectonics and geography of Pangaea may have worsened the Permian–Triassic extinction event or other extinctions. For example, the reduced area of continental shelf environments may have left marine species vulnerable to extinction. [50] However, no evidence for a species-area effect has been found in more recent and better characterized portions of the geologic record. [51] [52] Another possibility is that reduced sea-floor spreading associated with the formation of Pangaea, and the resulting cooling and subsidence of oceanic crust, may have reduced the number of islands that could have served as refugia for marine species. Species diversity may have already been reduced prior to mass extinction events due to mingling of species possible when formerly separate continents were merged. However, there is strong evidence that climate barriers continued to separate ecological communities in different parts of Pangaea. The eruptions of the Emeishan Traps may have eliminated South China, one of the few continental areas not merged with Pangaea, as a refugium. [53] Rifting and break-up The breakup of Pangaea over time All this is helpful to know, because if an Earth-like exoplanet has plate tectonics, we won't know which stage of the supercontinent cycle it is currently in, and therefore we will need to know what to look out for to infer its habitability. We shouldn’t assume that the landmasses will be dispersed, mid-cycle, like our own. The name "Pangaea" occurs in the 1920 edition of Die Entstehung der Kontinente und Ozeane, but only once, when Wegener refers to the ancient supercontinent as "the Pangaea of the Carboniferous". [11] Wegener used the Germanized form "Pangäa," but the name entered German and English scientific literature (in 1922 [12] and 1926, respectively) in the Latinized form "Pangaea" (of the Greek "Pangaia"), especially due to a symposium of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists in November 1926. [13] Kirscher, U. et al. Paleomagnetism of the Hart Dolerite (Kimberley, Western Australia) - A two-stage assembly of the supercontinent Nuna? Precambrian Res. 329, 170–181 (2019).The movement of mainlands on the planet Earth in different periods from 225 million years ago to present due to continental drift. (Image credit: Tinkivinki via Getty Images) The third major and final phase of the break-up of Pangaea occurred in the early Cenozoic ( Paleocene to Oligocene). Laurasia split when North America/Greenland (also called Laurentia) broke free from Eurasia, opening the Norwegian Sea about 60–55Ma. The Atlantic and Indian Oceans continued to expand, closing the Tethys Ocean. Brown University. " On Pangaea, the supercontinent, latitude and rain dictated where species lived." May 12, 2011. Irving, E. Paleomagnetism and Its Application to Geological and Geophysical Problems (Wiley, 1964). Ernst, R. E. et al. Long-lived connection between southern Siberia and northern Laurentia in the Proterozoic. Nat. Geosci. 9, 464–469 (2016).

Creveling, J. R., Mitrovica, J. X., Chan, N. H., Latychev, K. & Matsuyama, I. Mechanisms for oscillatory true polar wander. Nature 491, 244–248 (2012). The formation of the continents by the separation of Pangaea due to continental drift. (Image credit: Dimitrios Karamitros via Getty Images) This fantastic Pangea fact file for KS2 is a handy source, full of information for children to use while researching the formation of our continents. Simply print off these sheets in colour or eco print (to save your school's ink) and make as many copies as you need. Children can highlight key information as they read and use it as a valuable and reliable source of information.

Pangaea existed as a supercontinent for 160 million years, from its assembly around 335 million years ago ( Early Carboniferous) to its breakup 175 million years ago ( Middle Jurassic). [3] During this interval, important developments in the evolution of life took place. The seas of the Early Carboniferous were dominated by rugose corals, brachiopods, bryozoans, sharks, and the first bony fish. Life on land was dominated by lycopsid forests inhabited by insects and other arthropods and the first tetrapods. [40] By the time Pangaea broke up, in the Middle Jurassic, the seas swarmed with molluscs (particularly ammonites), [41] ichthyosaurs, sharks and rays, and the first ray-finned bony fishes, while life on land was dominated by forests of cycads and conifers in which dinosaurs flourished and in which the first true mammals had appeared. [42] [43] Mitchell, R. N., Hoffman, P. F. & Evans, D. A. D. Coronation loop resurrected: Oscillatory apparent polar wander of Orosirian (2.05–1.8 Ga) paleomagnetic poles from Slave craton. Precambrian Res. 179, 121–134 (2010). Li, Z.-X. et al. Assembly, configuration, and break-up history of Rodinia: A synthesis. Precambrian Res. 160, 179–210 (2008).

Bradley, D. C. Secular trends in the geologic record and the supercontinent cycle. Earth Sci. Rev. 108, 16–33 (2011). Spencer, C. J., Hawkesworth, C., Cawood, P. A. & Dhiume, B. Not all supercontinents are created equal: Gondwana-Rodinia case study. Geology 41, 795–798 (2013). Phase two of Pangea’s separation occurred roughly 150 million years ago. At this point, the Earth consisted of Laurasia - North America, Europe and Asia - and Gondwana, which was Africa, South America,India, Antarctica and Australia. This phase primarily concerned Gondwana, and began the separation of these individual continents from their former landmass body. A subduction, or dropping in the Earth’s crust along the Tethyan trench, is thought to be the primary cause of Africa, India and Australia’s first big shifts northward, thus creating the South Indian Ocean. Later, a landmass dubbed Atlantica - current day Africa and South America - broke from Gondawana creating the South Atlantic Ocean, and over time this land mass drifted westward. a b Rogers, J.J.W.; Santosh, M. (2004), Continents and Supercontinents, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p.146, ISBN 978-0-19-516589-0

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Hoffman, P. F. Did the breakout of Laurentia turn Gondwanaland inside-out? Science 252, 1409–1412 (1991). The fourth-last supercontinent, called Columbia or Nuna, appears to have assembled in the period 2.0–1.8 billion years ago (Ga). [26] [27] Columbia/Nuna broke up and the next supercontinent, Rodinia, formed from the accretion and assembly of its fragments. Rodinia lasted from about 1.3 billion years ago until about 750 million years ago, but its exact configuration and geodynamic history are not nearly as well understood as those of the later supercontinents, Pannotia and Pangaea. [28]

By the Early Permian, the Cimmerian plate split from Gondwana and headed towards Laurasia, thus closing the Paleo-Tethys Ocean, but forming a new ocean, the Tethys Ocean, in its southern end. Most of the landmasses were all in one. By the Triassic Period, Pangaea rotated a little, and the Cimmerian plate was still travelling across the shrinking Paleo-Tethys until the Middle Jurassic. By the late Triassic, the Paleo-Tethys had closed from west to east, creating the Cimmerian Orogeny. Pangaea, which looked like a C, with the new Tethys Ocean inside the C, had rifted by the Middle Jurassic, and its deformation is explained below. [39] Paleogeography of Earth in the late Cambrian, around 490 Ma Korenaga, J. Crustal evolution and mantle dynamics through Earth history. Philos. Trans. A 376, 20170408 (2018). Earthquakes of this scale usually happen on or near major subduction zones, where oceanic plates plunge beneath the continents and are melted and consumed in the hot mantle. They involve collision and destruction. The 1755 quake, however, happened along a "passive" boundary, where the ocean plate underlying the Atlantic transitions smoothly into the continents of Europe and Africa. The expansion of the temperate climate zones that accompanied the breakup of Pangaea may have contributed to the diversification of the angiosperms. [59] See alsoThe current configuration of continents is unlikely to be the last. Supercontinents have formed several times in Earth's history, only to be split off into new continents. Right now for instance, Australia is inching toward Asia, and the eastern portion of Africa is slowly peeling off from the rest of the continent. In the midst of the First Intifada, a five-year-long Palestinian uprising that began in 1987, the Palestine Liberation Organization proclaimed the new state in the city of Algiers on November 15, 1988. The evolution of life in this time reflected the conditions created by the assembly of Pangaea. The union of most of the continental crust into one landmass reduced the extent of sea coasts. Increased erosion from uplifted continental crust increased the importance of floodplain and delta environments relative to shallow marine environments. Continental assembly and uplift also meant increasingly arid land climates, favoring the evolution of amniote animals and seed plants, whose eggs and seeds were better adapted to dry climates. [40] The early drying trend was most pronounced in western Pangaea, which became a center of the evolution and geographical spread of amniotes. [44]