Supercontinents
There is strong evidence that most of the Earth's continents have been periodically joined together into supercontinents as the movement of the plates brought them together. The most recent of these supercontinents, Pangaea, formed about 270 million years ago and broke up about 200 million years ago.
The geologic record provides evidence of older supercontinents than Pangaea and a so-called "supercontinent cycle" of periodic supercontinent formation and break-up. What ultimately drives the cycle is a subject of scientific debate.
Image: Artwork showing the predicted position of the Earth's continents about 250 million years in the future (credit: Christian Darkin/SPL)
Introduction
Supercontinents
TV clips (1)
play
Pangaea
Over 200 million years ago, the continents were joined together.
Dr Iain Stewart explains how the Earth's moving tectonic plates resulted in a supercontinent called Pangaea.
Supercontinents
In geology, a supercontinent is a landmass comprising more than one continental core, or craton. The assembly of cratons and accreted terranes that form Eurasia qualifies as a supercontinent today.
This entry is from Wikipedia, the user-contributed encyclopedia. If you find the content in the 'About' section factually incorrect, defamatory or highly offensive you can edit this article at Wikipedia.
Related Earth topics
Other related BBC topics
Collections
News
Warning over 'dangerous' Skipsea cliff erosion
… that the cliffs were not safe, she said....
BBC links
BBC © 2012 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.
This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.