5 things you didn’t know about Pangea, the supercontinent formed out of a collision
Close to 273 years ago, it would have been possible to walk from Africa all the way to South America. As far-fetched as it sounds, it is actually quite true! This is because back then, all the continents made up one single land mass known as ‘Pangea.’ Read on to learn some interesting facts about this supercontinent whose existence was proposed in 1912.
The name ‘Pangea’ finds its origins in the Greek language
The name ‘Pangea’ is derived from two Greek words, namely ‘pan’ and ‘gia.’ The former means ‘all’ in English while the latter means ‘earth.’ Therefore, its meaning can be interpreted as ‘entire mother earth’ or ‘entire earth.’
The concept of this supercontinent was proposed by Alfred Wegener
Alfred Wegener, a German scientist, was the first person who conceptualised the idea of a supercontinent. He proposed this idea through his Continental Drift theory in his 1915 book ‘The Origins of Continents and Oceans.’ According to this theory, the continents which constituted a single landmass (Pangea) eventually broke off and drifted away to their current locations on the surface of the Earth. Initially, he was met with criticism from the science community. Eventually, his idea was further explained by other scientists who studied it and proposed the theory of Plate Tectonics.
Two other supercontinents also existed prior to Pangea
It is believed that over the course of the billions of years of Earth’s existence, several supercontinents existed. Out of them, scientists have been able to draw clear evidence of two, namely, Rodinia and Pannotia. The former came into existence about a billion years ago, while the latter was formed around 600 million years ago.
Pangea was formed due to the collision of two large continents
Earth’s mantle is extremely unstable. Due to this, several collisions and abductions take place on and underneath its surface. As a consequence, landmasses also tend to change their positions. This instability led to the collision of two massive continents which were responsible for the formation of Pangea. They were Laurasia, which included North America and Eurasia, and Gondwana, which included South America, Africa, Antarctica, Arabian Peninsula, and the Indian subcontinent.
It is predicted that Pangea could potentially reunite
According to the Supercontinent Cycle, scientists are able to estimate the movements of Earth’s plates. The data related to this suggests that it is possible that a new supercontinent will form sometime in the future, around 250 million years from now. Scientists have also attempted to make a map which demonstrates how it might appear.