Pangea Research Papers

In 1596- Abraham Ortelius took note that the coastlines of the continents seemed to be too fitting together. He initiated a theory that stated that the continents were probably joined at one point in time and were torn apart between Europe and Africa. In the year of 1912, Alfred Wegener stated that the continents were once joined in a supercontinent called Pangea.

Back about 21,00 years ago there was one big continent called Pangia. Then plates started moving, the ice age happened, Land bridge formed then disapered.

If a modern Pangea were to happen, the world would be different and it would affect many interactions. Objects in the world would be displaced. Other factors that might change may be the government, economies, societies and immigration. The relations between countries and continents would change as well. If all the continents were to collide into one supercontinent, things would have to change. These changes would be both positive and negative. Modern Pangea would be a very different place than it is today due to animals, transportation, and daily life.

Plate tectonics is the scientific theory that attempts to explain the movements of the Earth's lithosphere that have formed the landscape features we see across the globe today” (Briney). Geology defines “plate” as a large slab of solid rock, and “tectonics” is part of the Greek root word for “to build.” Together the words define how the Earth’s surface is built up of moving plates. The theory of plate tectonics dictates that individual plates, broken down into large and small sections of rock, form Earth’s lithosphere. These fragmented bodies of rock move along each other atop the Earth’s liquid lower mantle to create the plate boundaries that have shaped Earth’s landscape. Plate tectonics originated from meteorologist Alfred Wegener’s theory, developed in the early 20th century. In 1912, he realized that the east coast of South America and the west coast of Africa appeared to piece together like a jigsaw puzzle. He further examined the globe and deduced that all of Earth’s continents could somehow be assembled together and proposed the idea that the continents had once been linked in a single supercontinent called Pangaea. To explain today’s position of the continents, Wegener theorized that they began to drift apart approximately 300 million years ago. This theory

To support the theory of continental drift is through topography, surveying the floors of oceans, charts of rock magnetism, and statistics on rock ages (Trefil & Hazen, 2010). At one time scientist believed that the deep ocean floors were flat; accumulating the sediment that progressively wore away from the prehistoric landmasses (Trefil & Hazen, 2010). However, they discovered steep-walled valleys and elevated highlands. This was evidences that just as the continents are transformed and are active, so to is the seafloor (Trefil & Hazen, 2010). The Mid- Atlantic Ridge, positioned in the central part of the Atlantic Ocean, is recorded to be the longest mountain range on this planet. Volcanoes, lava flow, and earthquakes are a source of

The earth has been through a lot of changes throughout time. It used to be thought that the continents were locked in their positions and couldn’t move, but in 1915 Alfred Wagner came up with a theory about continental drift (Tarbuck and Lutgens, 2015). While unsure of the process that happened at the time, Wagner also came up with the idea that all the continents in existence today were once all connected as one giant continent known as Pangea. This idea is supported by the findings of similar rocks or fossils in multiple locations separated by large water bodies. Thanks to more tools and funding, the oceanic ridge system was found and by 1968, the theory of plate tectonics was introduced (Tarbuck and Lutgens, 2015). This theory

The theory of Pangaea suggests that the continents were once stuck together into one huge continent. Eventually they started drifting into separated landmasses, which gave birth to the modern continents.

The breaking apart of this supercontinent was due to the movement of the Earth's Tectonic Plates. Tectonic Plates are large masses of the lithosphere or outer layer of the Earth's surface. The layers included in the Lithosphere are the Crust up to the upper layer of the Mantle. The Oceanic Crust is thinner and denser than the Continental Crust and can be found underneath the ocean. It is also more active than the Continental Crust that stretches 200 km below the Earth's surface. This crust drifts and moves either horizontally or vertically causing geological phenomenons such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, etc. The major tectonic plates are North American, Caribbean, South American, Scotia, Antarctic, Eurasian, Arabian, African, Indian, Philippine, Australian, Pacific, Juan de Fuca, Cocos, and Nazca. These plates move an estimate of 1 to 10 cm per year causing interaction at plate boundaries. When two plates are colliding or moving toward each other it is in Convergent boundaries. If these two plates are Oceanic Crusts, they are in Subduction zones wherein the denser plate in forced beneath the less dense plate and would eventually melt or destroy. On the other hand, when two plates move away from each other it is in Divergent boundaries. New crust material from molten magma formed below may fill the space between these plates or become ocean basins.

The theory of continental drift was first put forward by Alfred Wegener, a meteorologist and geologist in Germany. The theory stated that the land on Earth’s crust slowly drifted apart. Alfred Wegener formulated the hypothesis that the modern day continents were once combined about 200 million years ago. He called this supercontinent Pangaea meaning “ all-land”. Then, he claimed that Pangaea began to break up into the continents Gondwanaland and Laurasia due to the parts of Pangaea slowly drifting apart. Millions of years later, the modern day 7 continents were formed. There are 4 main pieces of evidence to support Pangaea’s existence. One piece of evidence would be that the modern continents have a puzzle-like fit. If the continents can fit together, it

Hundreds of millions of years ago, all of earth’s major landmasses were joined in a single world continent, which geologists call Pangaea. About 200 million years ago, the world continent split into a northern and a southern land mass. The northern continent, Neogea, consisted of what is now North America, Europe, and Asia; the southern continent, Gondwanaland, was made up of South America, Africa, Australia, India, and Antarctica.

Alfred Wegener claimed that the Earth used to have only one giant continent called Pangea, and that it broke up into pieces and they drifted away. Fossils have the most evidence to prove because they show that the continents that would be connected contained fossils from one another. One example of this is in America and Africa, they both had the fossils of a dinosaur that couldn’t swim. One other major reason is the ancient climate, there was a fossil of an ancient tropical plant in Antarctica the theory of Pangea would help explain this. Finally, parts of the Appalachian Mountains in the U.S., Greenland, and Western

The world once was one big landmass called Pangea. Alfred Wegener, the man who discovered that Pangea happened, tried to explain to people how he knew Pangea was real. He found lots of evidence including animal and plant fossils, which showed that some of the fossils of the animals could only survive in fresh water so they could not swim all the way across a salt water ocean, or how are they are about 50 of the same types of trees right on the border of South America and Africa. Next, there are rock sequences, they are the exact same rock layers underground of South America and Africa. Also, there is glacier evidence that shows that there are glacier marks on rocks in Africa and South America and those places are way too hot for a glacier.

Pangaea, the colossal supercontinent, was the first land mass on the Earth. It is a panoramic, conglomerate of all the continents, which existed during the Triassic and period. The word Triassic originates from a discovery made by the German paleontologist, Friedrich August von Alberti. In his discovery he identified and dismantled, three different layers in the rock strata which are now called the Bunter, Muschelkalk and Keuper. The original names for the rocks where the Trias, which later became the Triassic. The entire Triassic period occurred between 251 million and 199 million years ago, which is about 51 million year. It took 6 legacies of mass extinctions to get to the Triassic period. These extinctions led to the lives of many new organisms on our planet.

The Earth (or Terra, due to its terrestrial nature) is the third planet from the Sun and home to almost 14 million species unable to live on other planets. Out of the many impressive aspects of our world, I have chosen to write about Pangaea, the supercontinent that once represented the only form of land in a planet made of water.

In junior high school, I have learned the Continental Drift Theory, and my geography teacher told me there was a new theory based on the Continental Theory, i.e. Plate Tectonics. I accessed to the Internet to find the information about Plate Tectonics.