The Panagea Tales Box Set: The Complete Epic Fantasy Series

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The breakup of Pangaea had a major impact on the Earth's climate and plant and animal life. For example, the creation of new oceans changed the patterns of global circulation, which led to changes in temperature and precipitation. This caused some plants and animals to go extinct, and it also led to the evolution of new species. Worsley, T. R., Nance, R. D. & Moody, J. B. Global tectonics and eustasy for the past 2 billion years. Mar. Geol. 58, 373–400 (1984).

Ernst, R. E. et al. Long-lived connection between southern Siberia and northern Laurentia in the Proterozoic. Nat. Geosci. 9, 464–469 (2016). The assembly of the various large landmasses into the supercontinent led to the development of extensive dry climates in the supercontinent’s tropics during Permian times. As low-latitude seaways closed, warm surface ocean currents were deflected into much higher latitudes (areas closer to the poles), and cool-water upwelling developed along Pangea’s west coast. Extensive mountain-building events (or orogenies) occurred where the continents collided with one another, and the newly created high mountain ranges strongly influenced local and regional terrestrial climates. East-west atmospheric flow in the temperate and higher latitudes was disrupted by two high mountain chains—one in the tropics oriented east-west and one running north-south—that diverted warm marine air into higher latitudes. Pangaea". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on October 25, 2020. Su, W. & Dziewonski, A. M. Predominance of long-wavelength heterogeneity in the mantle. Nature 352, 121–126 (1991).Jing, X. et al. A pan-latitudinal Rodinia in the Tonian true polar wander frame. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 530, 115880 (2020). Origin of the concept Alfred Wegener c. 1924–1930 World map of Pangaea created by Alfred Wegener to illustrate his concept Torsvik, T. H. et al. Phanerozoic polar wander, palaeogeography and dynamics. Earth-Sci. Rev. 114, 325–368 (2012). Wu, H., Zhang, S., Li, Z.-X., Li, H. & Dong, J. New paleomagnetic results from the Yangzhuang Formation of the Jixian System, North China, and tectonic implications. Chin. Sci. Bull. 50, 1483–1489 (2005). The distribution of fossils across the continents is one line of evidence pointing to the existence of Pangaea.

Spencer, C. J. et al. Evidence for whole mantle convection driving Cordilleran tectonics. Geophys. Res. Lett. 46, 4239–4248 (2019). Liu, C., Knoll, A. H. & Hazen, R. M. Geochemical and mineralogical evidence that Rodinian assembly was unique. Nat. Commun. 8, 1950 (2017). 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] Li, Z.-X. et al. Assembly, configuration, and break-up history of Rodinia: A synthesis. Precambrian Res. 160, 179–210 (2008). Geologists know that supercontinents disperse and assemble in cycles: we're halfway through one now. So, what kind of supercontinent might lie in Earth's future? How will the landmasses as we know them rearrange over the very long-term? It turns out that there are at least four different trajectories that could lie ahead. And they show that Earth's living beings will one day reside on a very different planet, which looks more like an alien world.

Additional evidence for Pangaea is found in the geology of adjacent continents, including matching geological trends between the eastern coast of South America and the western coast of Africa. The polar ice cap of the Carboniferous Period covered the southern end of Pangaea. Glacial deposits, specifically till, of the same age and structure are found on many separate continents that would have been together in the continent of Pangaea. [19] The continuity of mountain chains provides further evidence, such as the Appalachian Mountains chain extending from the southeastern United States to the Caledonides of Ireland, Britain, Greenland, and Scandinavia. [20]

Evans, D. A. D., Veselovsky, R. V., Petrov, P. Y., Shatsillo, A. V. & Pavlov, V. E. Paleomagnetism of Mesoproterozoic margins of the Anabar Shield: A hypothesized billion-year partnership of Siberia and northern Laurentia. Precambrian Res. 281, 639–655 (2016). Ebinger, C. J. & Sleep, N. H. Cenozoic magmatism throughout east Africa resulting from impact of a single plume. Nature 395, 788–791 (1998). Way's modelling of the supercontinent climates – which took months using a supercomputer – revealed some striking variations between the four scenarios. Amasia, for example, would lead to a much chillier planet than the rest. With land concentrated around the North Pole and the oceans less likely to carry warm currents to cooler latitudes, ice sheets would build up. Aurica, by contrast, would be balmier, with a dry core but coasts akin to Brazil's today, with more liquid water.Dziewonski, A. M., Lekic, V. & Romanowicz, B. Mantle anchor structure: An argument for bottom up tectonics. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 299, 69–79 (2010).

Hoffman, P. F. Speculations on Laurentia’s first gigayear (2.0 to 1.0 Ga). Geology 17, 135–138 (1989). But universal recognition continues to elude both sides, with many countries awaiting a formal resolution to the conflict from the two sides.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 Torsvik, T. H., Burke, K., Steinberger, B., Webb, S. J. & Ashwal, L. D. Diamonds sampled by plumes from the core–mantle boundary. Nature 466, 352–355 (2010). The creation of the new ocean that caused a circumpolar current eventually led to atmospheric currents that rotated from west to east. Atmospheric and oceanic currents stopped the transfer of warm, tropical air and water to the higher latitudes.