supercontinents
Ancient combined landmasses
Supercontinents are landmasses comprising most or all of Earth's continental crust, formed when tectonic plates drift together over hundreds of millions of years.
Pangaea, which existed about 300 million years ago, is the most famous example.
The term also applies to earlier formations like Rodinia and Gondwana.
Geologists theorize that supercontinents assemble and break apart in cycles spanning roughly 500 million years.
Prehistoric unified landmass
- GondwanaAncient southern supercontinent
- ColumbiaAmerica personified, or its namesakes
- UrEarly Mesopotamian metropolis
- plate tectonicsEarth's crust mobility theory
craton · landmass · rifting · breakup · assembly · cycle · paleogeography · reconstruction
Science of species distribution
- migrationMovement to new territory
- endemicNative to one area
- dispersalSpreading in many directions
- fossil recordRemains documenting prehistoric life
extinction · evolution · biodiversity · isolation · speciation · land bridges · fauna · flora
Era of massive glaciation
- glaciationIce sheet spreading process
- climatePrevailing atmospheric conditions
- sea levelElevation reference point
- ocean currentsLarge-scale seawater movement
Tethys · monsoonal · paleoclimate · hothouse · icehouse · albedo · weathering · carbon cycle
Scratches carved by moving ice
- seismicRelating to ground tremors
- zirconZirconium silicate crystal
- radiometricMeasuring by radiation
- stratigraphicOf geological layering
Pangaea
Prehistoric unified landmass
- GondwanaAncient southern supercontinent
- ColumbiaAmerica personified, or its namesakes
- UrEarly Mesopotamian metropolis
plate tectonics · craton · landmass · rifting · breakup · assembly · cycle · paleogeography · reconstruction · shield
biogeography
Science of species distribution
fossil record · extinction · evolution · biodiversity · isolation · speciation · land bridges · fauna · flora · dinosaurs
ice age
Era of massive glaciation
- glaciationIce sheet spreading process
- climatePrevailing atmospheric conditions
- sea levelElevation reference point
ocean currents · Tethys · monsoonal · paleoclimate · hothouse · icehouse · albedo · weathering · carbon cycle
glacial striations
Scratches carved by moving ice
- seismicRelating to ground tremors
- zirconZirconium silicate crystal
- radiometricMeasuring by radiation
- Earth historyice age, geological time, extinction, eons, fossil
- PrecambrianArchean, Proterozoic, stromatolites, craton, Ur
supercontinentsislands
Land surrounded by water
archipelagos · islets · microcontinents · atolls · oceanic islands