supercontinent: Quick Facts

Written and fact-checked by

The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Photos

Triassic paleogeography

Map showing the supercontinent Rodinia as it existed between 1.3 and 1 billion years ago, with large connected landmasses labeled by present-day continental names such as Laurentia, Baltica, Australia, and Congo. Surrounding areas are colored to indicate shallow seas and deep ocean basins, with subduction zones marked by orange lines and triangles.

Map projection depicting Earth as it may appear 250 million years in the future, with all present-day continents merged into a single supercontinent labeled Pangea Proxima. The map shows the positions of North America, South America, Africa, Eurasia, Australia, and Antarctica clustered together, surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, with mountains, land, shallow seas, and deep ocean basins indicated by different colors. An inset at lower right shows current continental positions for comparison.

Diagram showing three globe illustrations for each of the three supercontinental coalescence pathways: introversion, extroversion, and orthoversion. Each sequence uses arrows and labeled landmasses and oceans to depict how continental fragments move and new oceans form, merge, or shift position as part of the supercontinent cycle. Introversion shows continents reuniting across a new interior ocean, extroversion shows continents colliding on the opposite side of the globe, and orthoversion shows

See All Images →

Topics

Spotting a Supercontinent: How Pangea Was Discovered paleocontinent supercontinent cycle plate tectonics continent earthquake Australia Asia continental margin continental drift North America Africa What Is the Difference Between South America and Latin America?How are mountains formed?South America

Key People

Eduard Suess

Eduard Suess

Austrian geologist