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Why did Pangea’s interior have dry climatic conditions?

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Watch Earth's Continents Move — paleogeography Watch a time-lapse of Earth changing through geologic time, from the Cambrian Era to the projected period of Pangea Proxima.

The interior of the supercontinent Pangea experienced dry climatic conditions primarily due to its immense size and the development of significant mountain ranges that disrupted atmospheric circulation.12

As the various landmasses assembled, the formation of high mountain ranges—specifically an east-west chain in the tropics and a north-south chain—diverted warm, moisture-laden marine air away from the continental interior. Furthermore, the closure of low-latitude seaways during the Permian Period deflected warm surface ocean currents toward higher latitudes, while cool-water upwelling developed along the western coast of the supercontinent. These geographic and tectonic changes effectively prevented humid air from reaching the interior, resulting in the arid conditions characteristic of Pangea’s heartland.21