What Mercator didn't know is that the continents have not always been arranged this way. He lived around 400 years before the theory of plate tectonics was confirmed. Evans, D. A. D., Li, Z.-X. & Murphy, J. B. Four-dimensional context of Earth’s supercontinents. Geol. Soc. Lond. Spec. Publ. 424, 1–14 (2016). Brune, Sascha; Williams, Simon E.; Müller, R. Dietmar (December 2017). "Potential links between continental rifting, CO2 degassing and climate change through time". Nature Geoscience. 10 (12): 941–946. Bibcode: 2017NatGe..10..941B. doi: 10.1038/s41561-017-0003-6. S2CID 135097410. A discussion of some of the evidence supporting continental drift on Earth. (more) See all videos for this article

Merdith, A. S. et al. A full-plate global reconstruction of the Neoproterozoic. Gondwana Res. 50, 84–134 (2017). Ebinger, C. J. & Sleep, N. H. Cenozoic magmatism throughout east Africa resulting from impact of a single plume. Nature 395, 788–791 (1998). There is evidence to suggest that the deterioration of northern Pangaea contributed to the Permian Extinction, one of Earth’s five major mass extinction events, which resulted in the loss of over 90% of marine and 70% of terrestrial species. Button, David J.; Lloyd, Graeme T.; Ezcurra, Martín D.; Butler, Richard J. (December 2017). "Mass extinctions drove increased global faunal cosmopolitanism on the supercontinent Pangaea". Nature Communications. 8 (1): 733. Bibcode: 2017NatCo...8..733B. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-00827-7. PMC 5635108. PMID 29018290. Zhong, S. J., Zhang, N., Li, Z. X. & Roberts, J. H. Supercontinent cycles, true polar wander, and very long-wavelength mantle convection. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 261, 551–564 (2007). Provides numerical modelling to link major modes of mantle convection (degrees 1 and 2) to supercontinent formation and TPW, with degree 1 downwelling facilitating supercontinent formation and degree 2 convection then resulting from circum-supercontinent downwelling.

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The name "Pangaea" occurs in the 1920 edition of Die Entstehung der Kontinente und Ozeane, but only once, when Wegener refers to the ancient supercontinent as "the Pangaea of the Carboniferous". [11] Wegener used the Germanized form "Pangäa," but the name entered German and English scientific literature (in 1922 [12] and 1926, respectively) in the Latinized form "Pangaea" (of the Greek "Pangaia"), especially due to a symposium of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists in November 1926. [13] Bercovici, D. The generation of plate tectonics from mantle convection. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 205, 107–121 (2003). Berner, R. A. Phanerozoic atmospheric oxygen: New results using the GEOCARBSULF model. Am. J. Sci. 309, 603–606 (2009). Several conflicts have also resulted in some countries suspending relations with Israel. The 1967 and 1973 Arab-Israeli Wars (also called the Six-Day War and Yom Kippur War, respectively) all saw countries suspend diplomatic relations, including Mali and the Maldives. In the case of Eastern Bloc countries that did so in 1967 and 1973, many resumed relations after the fall of the Soviet Union. The breakup of Pangaea had a major impact on the Earth's climate and plant and animal life. For example, the creation of new oceans changed the patterns of global circulation, which led to changes in temperature and precipitation. This caused some plants and animals to go extinct, and it also led to the evolution of new species.

However, Pangaea wasn't the megalithe most people think it is. "Pangea never included all the continents at any one time," according to the chapter. For instance, "the Paleotethys Ocean to the east of Pangea remained wide throughout the Carboniferous [359 million to 299 million years ago] and presented something of a barrier between the supercontinent and a number of large, independent Asian terranes, including Tarim, North China, South China, and Annamia." Keller, C. B. et al. Neoproterozoic glacial origin of the great unconformity. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 116, 1136–1145 (2019). Pangaea broke up in several phases between 195 million and 170 million years ago. The breakup began about 195 million years ago in the early Jurassic period, when the Central Atlantic Ocean opened, according to the chapter. The supercontinent fractured largely along previous sutures. Hoffman, P. F. Did the breakout of Laurentia turn Gondwanaland inside-out? Science 252, 1409–1412 (1991). Coltice, N., Gérault, M. & Ulvrová, M. A mantle convection perspective on global tectonics. Earth Sci. Rev. 165, 120–150 (2017). Explores how geodynamic models, based on observations such as kinematics, stress, deformation and rheology, that link mantle convection and plate tectonics can take into account self-organization.The first and most obvious was that the "continents fit together like a tongue and groove," something that was quite noticeable on any accurate map, Murphy said. Another telltale hint that Earth's continents were all one land mass comes from the geologic record. Coal deposits found in Pennsylvania have a similar composition to those spanning across Poland, Great Britain and Germany from the same time period. That indicates that North America and Europe must have once been a single landmass. And the orientation of magnetic minerals in geologic sediments reveals how Earth's magnetic poles migrated over geologic time, Murphy said.

Dziewonski, A. M., Lekic, V. & Romanowicz, B. Mantle anchor structure: An argument for bottom up tectonics. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 299, 69–79 (2010). Way's modelling of the supercontinent climates – which took months using a supercomputer – revealed some striking variations between the four scenarios. Amasia, for example, would lead to a much chillier planet than the rest. With land concentrated around the North Pole and the oceans less likely to carry warm currents to cooler latitudes, ice sheets would build up. Aurica, by contrast, would be balmier, with a dry core but coasts akin to Brazil's today, with more liquid water.The formation of the continents by the separation of Pangaea due to continental drift. (Image credit: Dimitrios Karamitros via Getty Images) However, "Wellcome to the Theather" is one album where in spite the quality of musicians, the final result don't express this Bradley, D. C. Secular trends in the geologic record and the supercontinent cycle. Earth Sci. Rev. 108, 16–33 (2011). Rosas, J. C. & Korenaga, J. Rapid crustal growth and efficient crustal recycling in the early Earth: Implications for Hadean and Archean geodynamics. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 494, 42–49 (2018). Hager, B. H. Subducted slabs and the geoid: constraints on mantle rheology and flow. J. Geophys. Res. Solid Earth 89, 6003–6015 (1984).