Pangea (Mainland): formation and division of the supercontinent

Pangea is a continent, of which we know, relying only on the hypotheses and assumptions of scientists. This name was given to the continent that existed from the moment of the origin of our planet, which, according to the hypotheses of the geological past of the Earth, was the only one and was washed on all sides by the ocean under the name Pantalassa. What happened to our planet? And how did the continents known to us arise? With the hypotheses of scientists who answer these questions, you will get acquainted with the following article.

Why do continents break up?

Everything in this world is changeable - even the continents, which, it would seem, are permanently frozen in place, can change their location.

The word "pangeya" in Greek means "all land". According to scientists, Pangea is a continent that broke up and was separated by oceanic waters about 180 million years ago.

There are suggestions that before this phenomenon the continents were different. Scientists say that under the influence of some factors, the location of land and water masses on Earth is inexorably changing. So, after a certain amount of time, the usual layout of modern continents will also become different.

Age of the continents, according to experts who study the geological past of our planet - about 80 million years. Over time, the continents under the influence of heat, emanating from the red-hot terrestrial core and the rotation of the planet itself, must break up and form in a new way. This is a cyclic process, which is necessarily repeated.

The emergence of Pangea

Huge areas of the continental crust formed on the planet about 2.7 billion years ago. The land of the Earth merged into a single supercontinent, forming the first continent - Pangea. This was the first formation of the continent, where the thickness of the earth's crust was almost the same as in the modern continents - 40 km.

During the Proterozoic period, the Earth's structural plan began to change. About 2.3 billion years ago the first Pangea disintegrated.

The new (second) Pangea was formed at the end of the Early Proterozoic, about 1.7 billion years ago. Then the separated land sections were again welded into one supercontinent.

Under the influence of various factors, the continental crust again began to change its location. The Pacific Ocean appeared, the outlines of the North Atlantic began to appear, and the prototype of the Tetris ocean, which divided the continents into the southern and northern grouping, was outlined. And in the Paleozoic period the formation of the third Pangea was completed.

Laurasia and Gondwana - who is whom?

There is a version that Pangea is a continent that arose during the clash of the continents of Gondwana and Laurasia. On the site of the collision occurred two of the most ancient mountain systems: the Appalachians and the Urals. On this all was not over, the lithospheric plates continued to move towards each other for a meeting, as a result of which the train of the former southern continent shifted to a part of the land that was in the north. This process scientists call self-absorption.

The clash of the two most powerful supercontinents gave rise to great tension in the very center of the Pangea they created. Over time, this tension only increased, which caused another rift. Some scientists put forward the theory that Pangea was not there-it was Gondwana and Laurasia, which had been grappling together for 200 million years, and when the surface could not stand it, they broke up again.

Features of the Paleozoic period

It was during the Paleozoic period that Pangea became a single supercontinent. The duration of the period is about 290 million years. This period was marked by the emergence of a variety of living organisms, and ended in a massive extinction.

All the rocks that were formed at this time are attributed to the Paleozoic group. This definition was first introduced by the famous geologist from England Adam Sedgwick.

Pangea is a continent with a low temperature, because the processes that occurred during its occurrence led to the fact that the difference in the temperatures of the poles and the equator was significant.

The appearance of living organisms

Most of the living organisms inhabited the seas. Organisms flooded all possible habitats, capturing fresh water and shallow water. At first they were herbivorous organisms: tablata, archeocyatha, bryozoans.

During this period, many classes and types of different living beings arose. At the very beginning all living organisms lived in the seas, and the most developed among them were cephalopod mollusks.

When the last - Permian - Paleozoic period began, primitive mammals already lived on land that was covered with forests abundantly. It was at this time that warm-blooded zveroreptilia began to form.

The period of the greatest extinction of living organisms

At the end of the Paleozoic era, the final stage of the Paleozoic period, the Permian period , has come. It was at this time that the extinction occurred, which scientists consider the most extensive in the history of the Earth.

Prior to this, the earth was inhabited by bizarre life forms: prototypes of dinosaurs, sharks and reptiles of huge sizes.

For incomprehensible reasons, about 95% of all living species of organisms died out. The most important consequence of the formation and disintegration of Pangea was the extinction of hundreds of invertebrate species, which gave rise to changes in the Earth's population by various new species of plants and animals.

Separation of Pangea

250 million years ago, Pangea once again split into two continents. Gondwana and Laurasia appeared. The split occurred in such a way that Gondwana united in itself: South America, Hindustan, Australia, Africa and Antarctica. The structure of Laurasia includes the present territories of Asia, Europe, Greenland and North America.

All the continents familiar to us on the geographical map are fragments of the ancient supermatter. For millions of years the split of the land has inexorably continued to grow, which led to the formation of the continents of our time. The resulting space was filled with the waters of the World Ocean, which eventually was divided into the Atlantic and Indian.

A single piece of land was divided into North America and Eurasia, and between them lay the Bering Strait.

Geographic Puzzle

If you look closely at the globe, the continents on it form fragments of an entertaining puzzle. Visually, you can see that the continents in some places are perfectly connected together.

The hypothesis of scientists that the continents used to be one whole, can be verified with simple manipulations. To do this, it is enough to take a map of the world, cut out the continents and compare them among themselves.

When you attach Africa and South America to each other, you will see that the contours of their shores are almost everywhere compatible. A similar situation can be observed with North America, Greenland, Africa and Europe.

In 1915, Alfred Wegener, a meteorologist who had studied and analyzed paleontological and geographic data for many years, came to the conclusion that the Earth had previously been a single continent. It was he who called this continent Pangea.

Wegner's hypothesis has been ignored for many years. Only 40 years after the death of the German scientist, his assumptions that the continents are constantly drifting, were recognized as an official science. The supercontinent Pangea really existed and, under the influence of external and internal factors, disintegrated.

Forecasts of scientists for the future

Recall that, according to the existing theory of scientists, every 500 million years, all existing continents form one continent in the process of connection. It is estimated that half the time since the change in the location of the continents has already passed. And this means that in about 250 million years the Earth will change again: a new Pangea of the Ultimate will appear, which will include: Africa, Australia, Eurasia, the Americas and Antarctica.

From the above, it can be concluded that the history of the formation and disintegration of the ancient continent is one of the most important and most significant stages in the history of the existence of our planet. This cyclic process repeats every 500 million years. We must know and study the history of the existence of the first continent of Pangea in order to have an idea of what the future is for the Earth.