Before Pangaea — What? — Science NewsSeptember 30, 1972
The continents as we know them resulted when the protocontinent Pangaea broke apart and its fragments made the long slow journey to their present positions. The process took about 200 million years. But the Earth’s crust is an estimated 4.5 billion years old.… [Scientists are exploring] the perplexing problem of what went on during the billions of years before Pangaea went to pieces.
Up-to-date
According to fossil and rock evidence, the continents have an in-and-out relationship that dates back well before Pangaea. Most scientists agree that the earliest known supercontinent, called Nuna, formed around 1.5 billion years ago. It split apart, but was reunified as the supercontinent RodiniaIt was 1 billion years ago. The third supercontinent is calledPannotia could have been formed around 600 million years agoIt is located near the South Pole but it has Existence is up for debate. Scientists today are projecting how continents will meld in the future. A Amasia, a supercontinent, could be formed 250 million years from now as the continents drift toward the North Pole (SN: 1/21/17, p. 18).
