600 million years ago the entire landmass emerged formed a unit , a compact mass. This single continent was called Pangea, was surrounded by oceanic immensity and was known as Pantalassa.
From a terminological point of view, the word pangea is formed by the Greek prefix“pan” which means whole and by “geia” which means earth. Therefore, pangea means the whole earth.
The formation of the Earth as we know it
According to geologists, 300 million years ago the supercontinent Pangea began to slowly break up into two large continents: north Laurasia and south Gondwana, both separated by the first sea, known as the Tethys Sea. 135 million years ago, fragments of this mega continent began to shape the current continental masses, such as North America, South America, Eurasia and Africa. For millions of years the landmasses that emerged continued to separate until the present situation of the continents, which occurred approximately 30 million years ago, finally formed. Pangea
The continental drift theory
The Earth’s transformation process is called continental drift. Experts believed that the movement of the continents happened because of the detachment of three large plates. There are two continental plates and one that lies below the ocean , called the oceanic plate. The movement of the plates is supported on a soft material inside the earth, which is called the asthenosphere.
The continental drift theory appeared in 1912 and was made by the German geophysicist Alfred Wegener, considered the forerunner of geology known today. According to his researches, the existence of Pangea as a unique structure was demonstrated by two very important geological aspects: the shapes of the current continents and the fit between them, as well as the similarity of fossil records in different areas of the planet. This information led him to conclude that there was a continental superstructure, a united earth that received the name of Pangea.
The use of terminology in geology
The vocabulary of geology is based on Greek and Latin. Thus, in addition to the word Pangea, it should be noted that tectonic plates come from the word tektónicos (what builds), the word volcano comes from vulcano (the god of fire and volcanoes for the Romans) and ocean derives from the Greek okeanos ( the extent of the sea that surrounds the Earth). Pangea
