Pangaea

Pangaea was a supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras, bringing together nearly all of Earth's landmasses into a single vast landmass. It spanned from pole to pole and persisted for about 100 million years before breaking apart.

Formation occurred through a series of continental collisions that assembled previously separated landmasses. By roughly 335 to 300 million years ago, major blocks such as Laurentia, Baltica, and Siberia fused with the southern landmasses of Gondwana, producing two large northern and southern portions known as Laurasia and Gondwana. The interior of Pangaea was largely arid, with vast deserts and few coastlines, due to its enormous size and distance from the sea.

The breakup of Pangaea began around 175 million years ago in the early Jurassic, driven by plate tectonics. Rifting led to the separation of Laurasia in the north from Gondwana in the south, and later the fragmentation of these landmasses into the continents we recognize today. The breakup also created new ocean basins, most notably the opening of the Central Atlantic Ocean, and reshaped global climate and sea levels.

Evidence for Pangaea includes similarities in fossil distributions and rock formations across now-distant continents, matching geological belts, and corresponding patterns of glaciation and coal beds. The concept, proposed by Alfred Wegener in 1915, helped establish plate tectonics as the mechanism behind continental drift. The study of Pangaea continues to inform our understanding of paleogeography, biodiversity, and Earth’s dynamic geology.