Learning About Pangaea the Supercontinent

Jul 14, 2021

3 min read

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For most of human history, people believed that the continents didn’t move. However, as technology improved, scientists could see the ways the land on Earth was constantly changing. This led to the discovery of Pangaea the supercontinent. Millions of years ago, all of the land on Earth joined together to form one massive continent. Eventually, scientists realized Pangaea, the supercontinent, was just one of many supercontinents that have formed throughout Earth’s history.

By the 1600s, world maps showed Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, and North America. Studying the maps, people noticed that the continents looked like they could fit together. However, the common wisdom of the time was that the continents were stationary, so the shapes of the continents were not questioned.

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Alfred Wegener and Pangaea the Supercontinent

In 1912, German meteorologist Alfred Wegener introduced his continental drift theory, which claimed that the continents were moving. Furthermore, he argued the continents were once joined in a massive supercontinent made up of all of the continents on Earth. He called the continent Pangaea, meaning “whole Earth.”

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Wegener’s work wasn’t accepted until the 1960s when geologists discovered the geologically active boundaries of tectonic plates and created the plate tectonics theory. Once scientists understood how Earth’s tectonic plates moved, they were ready to accept Wegener’s Pangaea the supercontinent.

Plate Tectonics and Pangaea the Supercontinent

Using fossils and geologic features to work backward in time, geologists were able to model the movement of the continents. They confirmed that about 300 million years ago, during the Permian Period, all of Earth’s continents were locked together in a supercontinent. The supercontinent, Pangaea, was surrounded by a global ocean called Panthalassa.

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Life on Pangaea

Scientists believe the interior of Pangaea the supercontinent was a dry, arid desert because mountain ranges blocked the area from rainfall. However, coal deposits suggest that around the equator, Pangaea was a lush, tropical rainforest full of life. Giant insects roamed the Earth during the Permian Period. Then, around 252 million years ago, the world’s largest extinction event happened. The Permian-Triassic extinction event, also known as the Great Dying, wiped out 90% of the Earth’s species.

Dinosaurs evolved around 20 million years later, during the Triassic Period.

Tectonic plates are always moving. Soon after forming during the Permian Period, Pangaea began breaking apart. By the Triassic Period, the supercontinent had separated into two pieces. Geologists named the northern continent Laurasia. It included modern North America, Europe, and Asia. They called the southern continent Gondwana. South America, Africa, Australia, and Antarctica made up Gondwana.

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The Next Supercontinent

Tectonic plates move about one inch per year, so it takes millions of years to assemble and disassemble supercontinents. Geologists believe Earth has about a 300 to 400 million year supercontinent cycle. The oldest known supercontinent, Rodinia, formed nearly one billion years ago. Pannotia, another supercontinent, formed about 600 million years ago. Following this supercontinent cycle, another supercontinent will form in about 200 million years.

Pangaea Reading Passage for Middle School

You can teach your students about Pangaea with a reading passage! The reading passage comes with comprehension questions to help students consolidate what they learn from reading. Click on the picture below to find the reading passage on Teachers Pay Teachers.