The Phanerozoic Supercontinent: Pangaea

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Have you ever noticed how the world map resembles a puzzle, with continents resembles puzzle pieces that we put together to see the whole picture? Earth didn't have seven continents 300 million years ago; instead, it had one gigantic supercontinent called Pangaea, encircled by a single ocean called Panthalassa. The theory of plate tectonics was born out of the explanation for Pangaea's origin, which states that the Earth's outer shell divides into many plates that slide across the rocky mantle. Several supercontinents have formed and broken up over the planet's 3.5-billion-year existence causes churning and circulation in the Earth's mantle, which makes up the majority of the planet's volume. The disintegration and development of supercontinents have had a significant impact on the planet's history.

After putting together various lines of evidence, the physicist Alfred Wegener suggested the idea of an ancient supercontinent, which he termed Pangaea (occasionally spelled Pangea). The first and most obvious reason was that the continents fit together like a tongue and groove, as any map would reveal. The geologic record provides one further indication that Earth's continents were once one single mass. Pennsylvania coal deposits are similar in composition to coal deposits from the same historical period in Poland, the United Kingdom, and Germany. It suggests that North America and Europe were once one large landmass.

Magnetic mineral orientation in ancient deposits also tells how Earth's magnetic poles have migrated over geologic time. Identical plants, such as the extinct seed fern Glossopteris, have been discovered in the fossil record on widely separated continents. The Appalachians in the United States and the Atlas Mountains in Morocco were all part of the Central Pangaea Mountains, formed by the collision of the supercontinents Gondwana and Laurussia.

Pangaea formed over a few hundred million years gradually. Laurentia, a continent that contains sections of North America, united with several other micro-continents to form Euramerica about 480 million years ago. Gondwana, another supercontinent that includes Africa, Australia, South America, and the Indian subcontinent, eventually collided with Euramerica. The supercontinent began to collapse around 200 million years ago. Gondwana (Africa, South America, Antarctica, India, and Australia) split from Laurasia for the first time (Eurasia and North America). Then, approximately 150 million years ago, Gondwana divided. According to a 1970 publication in the Journal of Geophysical Research, India split from Antarctica while Africa and South America rifted. North America move away from Eurasia around 60 million years ago.

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BONUS MAP BREAK

250 Million Years from now a new super-continent may form known as Pangea Proxima pic.twitter.com/FEcybr1I4e

— Test Ballot Poso (@JackPosobiec) July 23, 2020

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Climate cycles would have been considerably different if there had been only one large landmass. The core of the continent, for example, may have been dry due to huge mountain chains that prevented all moisture and rainfall. However, coal deposits discovered in the US and Europe suggest that areas of the old supercontinent around the equator must have been a lush, tropical rainforest similar to the Amazonian jungle.

Climate simulations confirm that Pangaea's continental interior was severely seasonal. The researchers used biological and physical data from the Moradi Formation in northern Niger to reconstruct the ecosystem and climate during Pangaea's existence. The environment was arid with short, repeating wet periods that occasionally caused devastating flash floods, similar to the modern-day African Namib Desert and Australia's Lake Eyre Basin. Several animals prospered during Pangaea's 100-million-year existence, including the Traversodontidae, a family of plant-eating animals that contains the ancestors of mammals.

Insects like beetles and dragonflies thrived throughout the Permian period. However, Pangaea's existence coincided with the world's worst mass extinction, the Permian-Triassic extinction event. The Great Extinction occurred roughly 252 million years ago, which resulted in why most species on Earth became extinct. Archosaurs, a group of animals that eventually gave rise to crocodiles and birds, as well as a slew of other reptiles, flourished throughout the early Triassic period. Around 230 million years ago, theropods, mostly predatory dinosaurs with air-filled bones and feathers similar to birds, appeared on Pangaea.

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Meet Supercontinent Pangaea Proxima—in 250 Million Years https://t.co/hCIvkaQ2yk @NatGeoMag pic.twitter.com/H3dRx148TW

— Beautiful Maps (@BeautifulMaps) May 31, 2018

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The continents' current configuration is unlikely to be the last. Throughout Earth's history, supercontinents have formed and then split into new continents. For example, Australia is currently edging closer to Asia, whereas the eastern portion of Africa is steadily separating from the continents. Geologists stated that supercontinents grow and break up in a quasi-regular cycle every 300 to 400 million years. However, most scientists assume that circulation dynamics in the mantle are principally responsible for the supercontinent cycle. Beyond that, the specifics get hazy. While the heat coming from the mantle is most likely due to the radioactive decay of unstable elements like uranium, scientists disagree on whether the mantle contains mini-pockets of heat flow or if the entire shell is one huge heat conveyor belt.

To better understand the dynamics behind continental drift, scientists have built mathematical 3D simulations. Masaki Yoshida and M. Santhosh discuss how they created models of large-scale continental movements since the breakup of Pangaea 200 million years ago in a 2017 paper in Geoscience Frontiers. The 3D models depict how tectonic plate motion and mantle convection forces split and move huge landmasses. Pangaea's massive mass, for example, insulated the mantle underneath it, creating mantle flows that initiated the supercontinent's early split. Radioactive decay also raised the temperature of the upper mantle, resulting in upward mantle flows that separated the Indian subcontinent and began its northward migration.

Yoshida and Santhosh created additional geological models to predict mantle convection and continental movement patterns 250 million years. These models predict that the Pacific Ocean will close over millions of years as Australia, North America, Africa, and Eurasia converge in the Northern Hemisphere. These continents will eventually merge to form a supercontinent known as "Amasia." Antarctica and South America, the two remaining continents, are expected to remain relatively stationary and apart from the emerging supercontinent.

Readings

  1. M. Santosh, A synopsis of recent conceptual models on supercontinent tectonics in relation to mantle dynamics, life evolution and surface environment

  2. Matther W. Chwastyk, Meet Supercontinent Pangaea Proxima—in 250 Million Years

  3. Patrick L. Barry, Continents in Collision: Pangea Ultima

  4. Frank Jacob, What the world will look like in the year 250,002,018

  5. Gizem Cakil, Introducing Pangaea — an uncharted territory within the Harmony universe

Photo Credit: Wikimedia



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(Edited)

Dear @juecoree,
The theory of continental drift is a very interesting work. By the way, can't we live millions of years into the future? There is no guarantee that human beings will survive millions of years. If the theory of continental drift became a reality, what benefit would it give us?
If the Pacific disappeared millions of years after my death, what would that act mean to me?
To me, continental drift feels like a myth and a fantasy!

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can't we live millions of years into the future?
We can't be sure with that. As you have said, there is no guarantee that humans still live.

If the theory of continental drift became a reality, what benefit would it give us?

If you are asking for practical benefits, I think that there is none, but it is a good way to speculate what it is a million years from now.

To me, continental drift feels like a myth and a fantasy!

Maybe, it is, but only time would be able to tell. !PIZZA

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(Edited)

These models predict that the Pacific Ocean will close over millions of years as Australia, North America, Africa, and Eurasia converge in the Northern Hemisphere. These continents will eventually merge to form a supercontinent known as "Amasia."

This is but a weird concept

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Yes, it is weird and peculiar, but a good thing to speculate and to ponder. !PIZZA

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Points Boosting refund to @juecoree! 🤓
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