What is Pangea information for kids?
Pangaea was the global supercontinent which formed in the Palaeozoic era. The process started about 450 million years ago (mya), and was complete by 210 mya. Pangea was the latest of a series of global supercontinents. They formed at various times since plate tectonics began on Earth.
What is a fact about Pangea?
About 300 million years ago, Earth didn’t have seven continents, but instead one massive supercontinent called Pangaea, which was surrounded by a single ocean called Panthalassa. “This is what’s driven the entire evolution of the planet through time.
How was Pangea formed?
But how exactly did these landmasses join? The answer is through a lot of migration and collision. Around 300 million years ago, the northwestern part of the ancient continent of Gondwana (near the South Pole) collided with the southern part of the Euramerican continent to form one massive continent.
Who discovered Pangaea?
meteorologist Alfred Wegener
German meteorologist Alfred Wegener first presented the concept of Pangea (meaning “all lands”) along with the first comprehensive theory of continental drift, the idea that Earth’s continents slowly move relative to one another, at a conference in 1912 and later in his book The Origin of Continents and Oceans (1915).
How did Pangea break?
Scientists believe that Pangea broke apart for the same reason that the plates are moving today. The movement is caused by the convection currents that roll over in the upper zone of the mantle. About 200 million years ago Pangaea broke into two new continents Laurasia and Gondwanaland.
What does a continent?
A continent is a large continuous mass of land conventionally regarded as a collective region. There are seven continents: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia (listed from largest to smallest in size).
Was Pangaea a fact, or is it a theory?
Plate tectonics is the theory that explains the observations that lead to the conclusion that the continents have altered positions and have accreted over the history of the earth. Pangaea is the reconstruction of the supercontinent that is obtained by applying the principles of geology. It is a fact.
What did Archaeologists say about Pangaea?
The pattern of seafloor spreading indicates that Pangea did not break apart all at once but rather fragmented in distinct stages. Plate tectonics also postulates that the continents joined with one another and broke apart several times in Earth’s geologic history.
Why did Pangaea break up?
The supercontinent Pangaea was on one side of the earth for a few hundred million years. As the earth was spinning, it imbalanced the earth. The earth wanted to come to equilibrium, so it split up 200 million years ago and the two halves began to move to opposite sides of the earth.
What is the evidence of Pangaea?
What is the evidence of Pangea? 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. Fossil evidence for Pangaea includes the presence of similar and identical species on continents that are now great distances apart.