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How did Pangea’s size and shape affect its climate?
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paleogeography
Watch a time-lapse of Earth changing through geologic time, from the Cambrian Era to the projected period of Pangea Proxima.
The assembly of the supercontinent Pangea profoundly influenced global climate through its immense size, C-shaped configuration, and north-south orientation.123
Climatic Impacts of Size and Shape
- Aridity and Temperature: Pangea’s vast size created a massive interior that was largely isolated from moisture-bearing marine air, leading to widespread arid and dry conditions. While the interior was often dry and cool, the tropics experienced significant climatic variability, including short, intense rainy seasons.13
- Ocean Circulation: Pangea’s north-south orientation disrupted global ocean currents. The closure of low-latitude seaways deflected warm currents toward higher latitudes and fostered cool-water upwelling along the supercontinent's western coast.12
- Mountain Barriers: Extensive orogenies (mountain-building events) occurred during Pangea's assembly. These high mountain chains disrupted east-west atmospheric flow, further diverting warm marine air and influencing regional terrestrial climates.12
- Thermal Regulation: Because Pangea stretched from pole to pole, it acted as a barrier that inhibited the mixing of cold polar waters with warmer tropical waters, contributing to higher temperatures in shallow tropical basins and potentially triggering mass extinction events at the end of the Permian Period.23