Life › Seas, forests & the move to land
Pangaea supercontinent
assembled c. 335–300 million years ago· Event· Earth, climate & extinctions
Well establishedStrong fossil, genetic or geological evidence.
The supercontinent that joined nearly all of Earth's land into one mass, from roughly 335 to 200 million years ago.
See it on the Life map →What happened
Plate motion drove the southern block Gondwana into Laurussia (North America plus Europe), and Siberia and other pieces joined later, raising mountain belts such as the Appalachians and the Urals. Pangaea ("all land") stretched nearly from pole to pole, ringed by a single world ocean, Panthalassa. Much of its vast interior lay far from the sea, so it was dry, with extreme seasons. Land animals could walk across most of it, so faunas became similar worldwide.
Why it matters
It shaped Permian and Triassic climate, helped set the stage for the Great Dying, and let early dinosaurs spread widely. Its breakup built today's map of continents.
Think of it like
Like separate parcels assembled into one giant lot, which is later subdivided again along new lines.
The evidence (fossils, genes, rocks)
Matching rocks, mountain belts and fossils (Glossopteris, Lystrosaurus) on continents now apart, plus fitting coastlines and rock magnetism recording past latitudes. Alfred Wegener named it; see continental drift and plate tectonics.
Still debated
Exactly when each piece docked, and how it was assembled in detail, are still being worked out.
Inside this (2)
Connections (4)
▸Pangaea supercontinent set the stage for The Great Dying (end-Permian extinction)Debated
The connection
Pangaea's single landmass may have made life more fragile. Shallow coastal seas, home to much marine life, shrank as continents merged; the vast interior grew dry; and sluggish circulation in the one world ocean may have made it prone to losing oxygen. When the Siberian eruptions struck, these conditions may have magnified the damage.
When and how
Late Permian, about 260–252 million years ago, across the supercontinent and the surrounding Panthalassa ocean.
How sure are we?
The trigger is well supported (see the Siberian Traps). Pangaea's contributing role rests mainly on climate and ocean models, so it is debated.
Debates and open questions
Whether Pangaea weakened ecosystems beforehand or the eruptions alone were enough is unresolved; models disagree on how stagnant the ocean was.
▸Glossopteris grew across the south of Pangaea supercontinentWell established
The connection
Glossopteris fossils occur in South America, Africa, India, Australia and Antarctica. Its seeds were too large to float or blow across oceans, so it must have spread over connected land: Gondwana, the southern part of Pangaea. This pattern helped persuade geologists that the continents were once joined.
When and how
Gondwana, about 299–252 million years ago. Eduard Suess named Gondwana in 1885 partly from this flora; Alfred Wegener later cited it for continental drift.
The evidence
The fossil pattern, together with matching rock layers, ice-age deposits and rock magnetism, fits only if the southern continents were once connected.
Debates and open questions
Where Glossopteris first evolved and how quickly it spread across Gondwana are uncertain.
▸Pangaea supercontinent ended with Pangaea breaks apartWell established
The connection
Supercontinents tend not to last. One idea is that heat built up beneath the huge landmass while stresses grew along its edges, weakening it until rifts opened around 200 million years ago. Over the next 150 million years the pieces drifted apart into today's continents.
When and how
Rifting began between North America and northwest Africa about 200 million years ago and continued through the Jurassic and Cretaceous.
The evidence
Matching rocks and fossils across the Atlantic, magnetic stripes on the seafloor, and ocean crust that grows older away from mid-ocean ridges.
Debates and open questions
Why it broke when and where it did is debated: mantle plumes, trapped heat or plate forces. Earlier supercontinents also formed and split.
▸Continental drift & plate tectonics explains the assembly of Pangaea supercontinentWell established
The connection
When ocean floor sinks into the mantle faster than new floor forms, the continents on either side close in and collide. Pangaea formed this way as the southern landmass Gondwana collided with Euramerica about 335–300 million years ago, raising mountains whose worn roots include the Appalachians. Plate motions tore it apart from about 200 million years ago, opening the Atlantic.
When and how
Assembled across the late Paleozoic and broke apart in the Mesozoic; named by Wegener; the cycle of supercontinents forming and splitting was described by J. Tuzo Wilson in the 1960s.
The evidence
Matching rock belts, mountain chains and fossils across today's oceans, plus magnetic records in rocks showing where each continent lay over time.
Debates and open questions
Its exact shape at different times, and what drives the supercontinent cycle; models predict a new supercontinent in roughly 200–250 million years.