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How did Panthalassa compare in size with the modern Pacific Ocean?
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Pangea
Distribution of landmasses, mountainous regions, shallow seas, and deep ocean basins near the end of the Permian Period. Included in the paleogeographic reconstruction are the locations of the interval's subduction zones.
Panthalassa was an enormous global ocean that surrounded the supercontinent Pangea. Its size relative to the modern Pacific Ocean varied depending on the geologic period:
- During the Ordovician Period: The Panthalassic Ocean was described as being as wide at the Equator as the modern Pacific Ocean.1
- During the Triassic Period: Panthalassa was significantly larger, stretching from pole to pole and extending to about twice the width of the present-day Pacific Ocean at the Equator.2