 180 Million Years Ago
About 180 million years ago the supercontinent Pangea began to
break up. Scientists believe that Pangea broke apart for the same
reason that the plates are moving today. The movement is caused by the
convection currents that roll over in the upper zone of the mantle.
This movement in the mantle causes the plates to move slowly across the
surface of the Earth. About 200 million years ago Pangaea broke into
two new continents Laurasia and Gondwanaland. Laurasia was made of the
present day continents of North America (Greenland), Europe, and Asia.
Gondwanaland was made of the present day continents of Antarctica,
Australia, South America. The subcontinent of India was also part of
Gondwanaland. Notice that at this time India was not connected to Asia.
The huge ocean of Panthalassa remained but the Atlantic Ocean was going
to be born soon with the splitting of North America from the Eurasian
Plate.
How do we know that South America was attached to Africa and not to
North America 180 million years ago?
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