HAVE you ever wondered what our Earth looked like millions of years ago? The shape of the continents then, as scientists believe, was very different from the image of the globe we are so used to viewing today!

While in kindergarten, many of us must have been taught The Continent Song, which lists all the names of the continents one by one:

“Asia, Africa, North and South America, Australia, Antarctica, and Europe too!”

Can you imagine Planet Earth without any of these separate continents? That is exactly what our Earth was like some 270 million years ago! All these continents and countries fused together as one were called Pangaea.

The supercontinent

A supercontinent is made up of two or more continents fused together to form one giant landmass. The amazing part about the supercontinent Pangaea is that it included all of Earth’s continents joined together and covered one-third of the Earth’s surface!

Unlike today, when there are many oceans in the world, such as the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, during the time of Pangaea, the supercontinent was surrounded by one big global ocean, which geogologists today call “Panthalassa”. The name “Pangaea” comes from the two Ancient Greek terms pan meaning “entire”, and Gaia meaning “Earth”. Together they mean “all of the earth”

Although scientists and experts have, for years, uncovered evidence and analysed proof of whether or not the supercontinent actually existed, you, sitting right here looking at a map of the world, can find proof yourself! If you look closely at the right-side borders of South America on the coast of Brazil and the left side of the African borders, it seems like the two would have fit together just like pieces of a giant jigsaw puzzle!

Now, you must be wondering two things: How on earth did this amazing supercontinent come to be? And why did it break up into separate continents to form the world as we know today? Let’s find out why.

Pangaea’s formation

Earth’s structure is made up of many different layers. There is a thin topmost layer called the crust. Under the crust lies the rocky mantle, which is made up of several substances such as oxygen, silicone, magnesium andiron. Now this mantle can get very hot, reaching temperatures of up to 4,000 to 6,700° F (2,200-3,700° C). Whenever the mantle underneath the crust gets heated, it creates “convection currents” which is a process by which heat is carried to the outer mantle. These changes in temperature, as well as the burning hot magma (lava-like substance) that is produced drag Earth’s tectonic plates and move them around.

Earth’s surface is made up of these tectonic plates, which are huge slabs of rock that allow the continents to move away from their positions. This shifting of the continents due to the movement of the plates is called “Continental Drift”

So, around 300 million years ago, continental drifts took place and several huge landmasses collided with each other over time to form Pangaea: the supercontinent.

So now we know the technical reason for the formation of the supercontinent. Let’s try and figure out why this impressive structure broke apart only 100 million years after its formation!

The break-up

Hundred million years after it was created, Pangaea slowly and gradually started to break apart until the continents reached the positions we know them to be at today. If they had not, we would have been sharing borders with Africa and Arabia!

Pangaea began to break up for almost the same reasons as it was formed — movements in Earth’s crust, perhaps due to the introduction of new materials, caused a widespread rift to develop in the land. This widened the gap between continents and this gap grew bigger and bigger as the land masses began drifting further and further away, no longer connected to one giant continent called Pangaea.

Some experts claim that this gap was created because of a weak point in the Earth’s crust. The development of the gaps and rifts began when magma began swelling up in that weak point and created a chain of violent volcanoes. These volcanic eruptions poured ash and debris into the environment and caused the continents to sever and move apart.

And it was thus the end of the supercontinent.

It is still fun to imagine what the world today would be like if Pangaea still existed. It would have been possible for people to walk from New York to Morocco! Pakistan would have been severed into two pieces, as you can see in the map, one piece sharing a border with India, the other being positioned very close to Somalia and Yemen! It might have even been possible to walk to Somalia from Pakistan!

So take a closer look at the map, dear readers, and enjoy a few minutes marvelling at what life in Pangaea would have been like and how much the world around us has changed since then.