pangaea









pangaea


noun Geology.

  1. the hypothetical landmass that existed when all continents were joined, from about 300 to 200 million years ago.

noun

  1. the ancient supercontinent, comprising all the present continents joined together, which began to break up about 200 million years agoSee also Laurasia, Gondwanaland

“supercontinent of the late Paleozoic era,” 1924, from Greek pan- “all” (see pan-) + gaia “earth” (see gaia). First attested in German, 1920, in Alfred Wegener’s “Die Entstehung der Kontinente und Ozeane” (not found in 1914 first edition, according to OED).

  1. A supercontinent made up of all the world’s present landmasses joined together in the configuration they are thought to have had during the Permian and Triassic Periods. According to the theory of plate tectonics, Pangaea later broke up into Laurasia and Gondwanaland, which eventually broke up into the continents we know today.

A former “supercontinent” on the Earth. In the distant past a large landmass, Pangaea, included all the present continents, which broke up and drifted apart. (See plate tectonics.)

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