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Pangea
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Permian paleogeography Carboniferous paleogeography Triassic paleogeography Pangea: Early Triassic Period Jurassic paleogeography Pangea: Late Jurassic Period
What is continental drift and how does it work?
Piecing together the puzzle of continental drift
Infographic showing the locations and timelines of ancient and submerged continents including Mauritia and Zealandia on modern maps, and paleocontinents Rodinia, Laurentia, Pangea, and Gondwana on reconstructed ancient Earth maps, with explanatory text about their formation and breakup. A series of four world maps showing the progression of continental drift over time. The maps illustrate the supercontinent Pangaea 225 million years ago, its breakup into Laurasia and Gondwana 150 million years ago, the further separation of continents 100 million years ago, and the current arrangement of continents on Earth today. Continents are labeled in each map.
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Pangea: References & Edit History

Article Contributors

Primary Contributors

  • The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
    Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.

Other Contributors

  • Rasoul Shiri

Other Encyclopedia Britannica Contributors

Article History

Type Description Contributor Date
Invalidated site: Universit? de Lausanne - Serval - The formation of Pangea. Jul 28, 2026
Add new Web site: The Royal Society Publishing - Philosophical Transactions B - Quantifying the effects of the break up of Pangaea on global terrestrial diversification with neutral theory. Feb 19, 2026
Add new Web site: National Center for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central - Quantifying the effects of the break up of Pangaea on global terrestrial diversification with neutral theory. Sep 22, 2025
Add new Web site: The Royal Society Publishing - Proceedings B - Global biogeography since Pangaea. Jun 18, 2025
Add new Web site: Nature - Scientific Reports - Pangea breakup and northward drift of the Indian subcontinent reproduced by a numerical model of mantle convection. Mar 29, 2025
Questions and answers added. Feb 11, 2025
Add new Web site: CORE - The Lithospheric Structure of Pangea (PDF). Dec 09, 2024
Add new Web site: Academia - The Pangea conundrum (PDF). Jul 22, 2024
Add new Web site: Universit? de Lausanne - Serval - The formation of Pangea. Jan 25, 2024
Link added. Aug 03, 2023
Added cross-reference. Jan 28, 2023
Add new Web site: National Park Service - Supercontinent Pangea. Aug 18, 2022
Add new Web site: Interesting Engineering - Pangaea might have contributed to one of the world's worst mass extinctions. Aug 13, 2022
Article revised and updated. Oct 01, 2021
Added a video of evidence of continental drift. May 18, 2020
Media added. Dec 03, 2018
Add new Web site: LiveScience - Facts About Pangaea, Ancient Supercontinent. Mar 21, 2018
Corrected display issue. Jul 21, 2017
Media added. Jun 10, 2016
Added two videos showing how Pangea was formed. Sep 09, 2015
Text updating the expected timing of the emergence of Earth's next supercontinent added. Sep 09, 2015
Add new Web site: Kids Geo - Kids Geology - Pangaea. Apr 10, 2015
Article restructured and text revised to clarify 'Gondwana' and 'Euramerica.' Feb 20, 2015
Updated geologic time data. May 25, 2010
Added new Web site: Thinkquest - Pangaea Theory. Mar 13, 2008
Article revised and updated. Apr 25, 2007
Added new Web site: WebSpinners - The Formation of Pangaea. Feb 09, 2007
Article added to new online database. Jul 20, 1998
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