Pangea, in accordance with the provisions in books and in the history of the world, refers to a supercontinent that may have existed during the period of the Paleozoic and Mesozoic. This super continent is believed to be the grouping of all the continents that we currently know of in the world and some that no longer exist.

The term pangea arises from the union of the Greek prefix pan (“all”) and the word gea (which, in Spanish, means “soil” or “earth”). This term was used for the first time and was created by the scientist of German origin Alfred Wegener.

According to the studies carried out, it is believed that the pangea could have been a gigantic block of land that had the shape of the letter “C”, distributed throughout the area of ​​the equator surrounded entirely by an ocean that was called the pantalasa. That is why, due to its uniqueness as a continent, the creatures could migrate from the North Pole to the South Pole, without any problem.

Training

The origin of Pangea, according to archaeological studies carried out over the years, took place approximately 300 million years ago. Towards the end of the Triassic and early Jurassic, plate tectonic slides caused Pangea to notice a disintegration and to consolidate two new continents: Gondwana, in the south, and Laurasia, to the north. These two continents were divided by the Sea of ​​Thetis. With the passage of time, the translation of the continental masses (a phenomenon known as continental drift, a process that still continues) ended up generating the continents as we identify them today.

Pangea separation

After the separation of this block of land, the Tetis Sea arose and with it, two lands which were called Gondwana , which was displaced to the west side and Laurasia, which was displaced to the north side. As time passed, both the Atlantic and Indian oceans began to take the shape that later defined them.

Elements that gave true to the pangea theory

• Coincidences in botanical and animal species between regions so far apart (since they could not have crossed the ocean, but could have dispersed when the terrain was still one).
• Similar climates between various continents. (If the puzzle is put together, it can be discovered that those who share the climate were previously united).
• Rock formations that are the same age and are of the same type (for example between South America and Africa).
• Territories that do not coincide with the rest of the area of ​​the country that comprises it (as is the case of the dunes of choir in Venezuela)

Existence of other megacontinents

Scientists, according to many studies and scientific research, consider that Pangea was not the first supercontinent. Pannotia would have been another megacontinent, formed 600 million years ago and segmented around fifty million years later. Other possible supercontinents, according to scientific evidence, were Rodinia, formed 1.1 billion years ago and separated 750 million years ago, and Columbia, which was born 1.8 billion years ago and fragmented about three hundred million years later.