Word of the day: Pangaea
Pangaea was the supercontinent that existed during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras about 250 million years ago before the component continents were separated into their current configuration.
The name was coined in the scientific discussion of Alfred Wegener’s theory of the continental drift. The term Pangaea appeared in 1928 during a symposium to discuss Wegener’s theory.
The theory of continental drift has now been totally replaced by the notion of plate tectonics but there is growing evidence to substantiate the view that all continents were once linked together.
Further information here.
November 27th, 2010 at 10:28 pm
I don’t think plate tectonics has replaced continental drift; rather, plate tectonics is one of the mechanisms underlying (pun intended!) continental drift. See Plate Tectonics and Continental Drift.
November 28th, 2010 at 6:52 pm
Good point, Nick.
Perhaps I was overly influenced by the comment by Richard Dawkins in “The Greatest Show On Earth”: “I must make it clear that his hypothesis [that of Alfred Wegener] of continental drift was significantly different from our modern theory of plate tectonics.”
The Wikipedia page on continental drift states: “.. it is now accepted that the continents do move across the Earth’s surface – though more in a driven mode than the aimlessness suggested by ‘drift’ “.
So I guess that the theory of continent movement has been confirmed but the notion of drift is now discredited and the mechanism for movement is now known to be plate tectonics.
November 28th, 2010 at 10:40 pm
Good points, Roger.
As you say, it seems the “continental drift” (with no convincing mechanism) proposed by Wegener has been superseded by a “continental drift” (driven by plate tectonics), which might perhaps be renamed so that it doesn’t confuse non-geologists!
November 29th, 2010 at 10:51 am
Roger, is this on your list of the countries you have visited? 😉
November 29th, 2010 at 10:54 am
Not yet – but, if the weather in Britain stays this cold, may go there soon!
October 13th, 2011 at 3:57 pm
Just thought you might be interested in my two cents. I am a Geography major and I have studied this phenomenon over my degree. There is a cycle called the Wilson cycle which occurs every 500 million years, which will see the continents go from a fully interconnected land mass on one side of the earth to a similar landmass on the opposite side due to continental drift. We are currently half way through a cycle, so our land masses are spread about the face of the earth, in 250 million years however, they will have reformed exactly opposite where pangaea once was. This cycle has probably occurred around 5/6 times in the history of our planet.