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Pangaea
A puzzle of epic proportions
• The super continent of Pangaea was once made up of
all the land masses we recognize on our earth
today.
Take a look at our maps…can you see how the
continents fit together?
Pangaea
Pangaea
Pangaea Questions
• What does “Pangaea” mean anyways?
• What exactly is Pangaea… ?
• How do we know what it was like 200 million years
ago if no one is alive to tell us about it?
What happened to Pangaea, how did it separate?
• If the continents moved around millions of years
ago how do we know they won’t do it again?
These are ALL good questions… Lets see if we can find out
for ourselves!
Define Pangaea…
• The word Pangaea comes from Greek
words “pan” and “gaia”
“pan” meaning “entire”
“gaia” meaning “earth”
• Therefore Pangaea literally means “Entire
Earth.” Which seems fitting because it
was composed of every land mass on the
entire Earth!
• LINK
What is Pangaea?
• Pangaea is a
super continent
that is said to
have existed
from the Permian
through the
Jurassic period
in our earth’s
history.
• Alfred Wegner first
suggested the
existence of Pangaea
while exploring his
theory of continental
drift.
• He theorized that
millions of years ago
the continents were all
formed together in one
land mass that he
called Pangaea.
• Alfred couldn’t explain
what force had the
power to move the
continents, but his
evidence had him
convinced of his
theory.
What is Pangaea?
Alfred Wegner
(http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/glossary/
Contdrift.shtml)
What evidence?
• There are a few sources of evidence
supporting the existence of Pangaea…
– Fossils
– Rocks and minerals
– Matching coastlines (like puzzle pieces!)
– Plate tectonics
ROCKS
• The same rock
patterns were
found in South
America, India,
Africa, Antarctica
and Australia.
• How could this be
true?
READ THE ARTICLE ON ROCKS!
FOSSILS
Plant and animal fossils found on the coastlines of different continents
READ THE ARTICLE ON FOSSILS!
:Look again at the
puzzle like coastlines on
the map of Pangaea?
Plate Tectonics
• Tectonic plates have been
moving for millions of years.
• If they use computers to back
track the movement of the plates
over time, scientists can tell that
all of the continents were once
together around 225 million
years ago and that the
continents have slowly separated
over time into the places they are
now.
Read The Article on Tectonic
Plates
ANCIENT CLIMATES
• Tropical plant
remains (coal
deposits) found in
Antarctica also were
the same…
• Glaciation in Africa,
South America, India,
and Australia happened
during the same time
Continental Drift
Theory
• Proposed by Alfred Wegener in 1912
• 250 million years ago, all of the continents were
combined into one super-continent called
“Pangaea”
• The continents gradually drifted apart to where
they are today
Continental Drift Theory
Theory of Continental Drift
Do you guys remember learning
about plate tectonics?
• Alfred’s theory of
continental drift inspired
other scientists to develop
the theory we know today
as plate tectonics.
• This answered his
troublesome question
regarding what force was
strong enough to move
continents.
• Now that we know about
continental and oceanic
plates, Alfred’s theory on
the existence of Pangaea
has been confirmed by
Scientists.
Since all the continents were joined in one land mass
(Pangaea), the remaining area of our earth was covered in
ocean!
This ocean is referred to as, Panthalassa.