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How did the formation of Pangea reduce shallow-water marine habitats?
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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.
The formation of Pangea significantly reduced shallow-water marine habitats by consolidating the world's landmasses, which led to a decline in the overall extent of these coastal environments.1
As the supercontinent assembled, the reduction in available shallow-water areas was compounded by the presence of land barriers that inhibited the circulation of cold polar waters into tropical regions. This lack of circulation contributed to lower levels of dissolved oxygen in the remaining warm-water habitats. These environmental stressors are considered a contributing factor to the mass extinction event at the end of the Permian Period, which resulted in a 95 percent reduction in marine species diversity.1