How did Gondwana break up?
The breakup of Gondwana occurred in stages. Some 180 million years ago, in the Jurassic Period, the western half of Gondwana (Africa and South America) separated from the eastern half (Madagascar, India, Australia, and Antarctica).
What two continents did Gondwana collide?
Gondwana. Gondwana then collided with North America, Europe, and Siberia to form the supercontinent of Pangea. The breakup of Gondwana occurred in stages. Some 180 million years ago, in the Jurassic Period, the western half of Gondwana (Africa and South America) separated from the eastern half (Madagascar, India, Australia, and Antarctica).
How was the Gondwana formed?
According to plate tectonic evidence, Gondwana was assembled by continental collisions in the Late Precambrian (about 1 billion to 542 million years ago). Gondwana then collided with North America, Europe, and Siberia to form the supercontinent of Pangea.
What happened to Gondwana during the Jurassic period?
By this time, it was the Jurassic Period, and much of Gondwana was covered with lush rainforest. The great supercontinent was still under strain, however. Between about 170 million and 180 million years ago, Gondwana began its own split, with Africa and South America breaking apart from the other half of Gondwana.
What happened before Gondwana broke apart?
Before Gondwana broke apart, the landmass stretched and thinned, leaving a series of matching faults and rift valleys on the continents. With a series of computer models, the scientists tested various best fits for Australia, Antarctica and India against the compiled research data.
What is the new construction of Gondwana?
A new construction of Gondwana provides a better match between Australia, Antarctica and India. The colored polygons are geologic units that formed before the continents broke apart. (Image credit: White et al., Gondwana Research) Scientists are a step closer to solving part of a 165-million-year-old giant jigsaw puzzle: the breakup ...
How old is the Gondwana puzzle?
Scientists are a step closer to solving part of a 165-million-year-old giant jigsaw puzzle: the breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana. Finding the past position of Earth's continents is a finicky task.
When did India break away from Antarctica?
India started to pull away from Antarctica first, breaking away from both continents by about 100 million years ago. (It zoomed north, eventually smashing into Asia.) Australia and Antarctica opened up like a zipper from west to east between 85 million to 45 million years ago, White said.
When did Gondwana break up?
The breakup of Gondwana occurred in stages. Some 180 million years ago, in the Jurassic Period, the western half of Gondwana (Africa and South America) separated from the eastern half (Madagascar, India, Australia, and Antarctica). The South Atlantic Ocean opened about 140 million years ago as Africa separated from South America.
When was Gondwana formed?
It was fully assembled by Late Precambrian time, some 600 million years ago , and the first stage of its breakup began in the Early Jurassic Period, about 180 million years ago.
What was the name of the landmass that Alexander Du Toit created?
He envisioned a single great landmass, Pangaea (or Pangea ). Gondwana comprised the southern half of this supercontinent. The concept of Gondwana was expanded upon by Alexander Du Toit, a South African geologist, in his 1937 book Our Wandering Continents.
What is the name of the supercontinent that was once known as Gondwana?
India: Relief. …ancient southern-hemispheric supercontinent known as Gondwana, or Gondwana land). When the two finally collided (approximately 50 million years ago), the northern edge of the Indian-Australian Plate was thrust under the Eurasian Plate at a low angle.
Which continent was located over the South Pole?
Silurian Period: Gondwana. The vast supercontinent of Gondwana was centred over the South Pole. In addition to Australia, Antarctica, India, Arabia,... The matching shapes of the coastlines of western Africa and eastern South America were first noted by Francis Bacon in 1620 as maps of Africa and the New World first became available.
Where is Gondwanaland located?
The name Gondwanaland was coined by the Austrian geologist Eduard Suess in reference to Upper Paleozoic and Mesozoic formations in the Gondwana region of central India, which are similar to formations of the same age on Southern Hemisphere continents.
Which two continents separated during the Cretaceous Period?
At about the same time, India, which was still attached to Madagascar, separated from Antarctica and Australia, opening the central Indian Ocean. During the Late Cretaceous Period, India broke away from Mada gascar, and Australia slowly rifted away from Antarctica.
What caused the Gondwana to split?
In 2008, however, University of London researchers suggested that Gondwana instead split into two tectonic plates, which then broke apart.
What landmasses did Gondwana join?
In this world, Gondwana conducted its slow grind to supercontinent status. Bits and pieces of the future supercontinent collided over millennia, bringing together what are now Africa, India, Madagascar, Australia and Antarctica. This early version of Gondwana joined with the other landmasses on Earth to form the single supercontinent Pangaea by ...
Which supercontinents are in slow motion?
Landmasses on Earth are in a constant state of slow motion, and have, at multiple times, come together as one. These all-in-one supercontinents include Columbia (also known as Nuna), Rodinia, Pannotia and Pangaea (or Pangea). Gondwana was half of the Pangaea supercontinent, along with a northern supercontinent known as Laurasia.
What continents did Pangaea split into?
The northern landmass, Laurasia, would drift north and gradually split into Europe, Asia and North America.
Where did the name Gondwanaland come from?
Suess got the name Gondwanaland from the Gondwana region of central India, where geological formations match those of similar ages in the southern hemisphere.
Which continent split into landmasses?
Gondwana was an ancient supercontinent that broke up about 180 million years ago. The continent eventually split into landmasses we recognize today: Africa, South America, Australia, Antarctica, the Indian subcontinent and the Arabian Peninsula.
When did Africa and South America split?
Between about 170 million and 180 million years ago, Gondwana began its own split, with Africa and South America breaking apart from the other half of Gondwana. About 140 million years ago, South America and Africa split, opening up the South Atlantic Ocean between them.
An Introduction to Plate Tectonics
Did you know that the continents were not always located where they are today? Although it moves too slowly for you to feel or see, the surface of the Earth is always in motion and always changing.
The Formation of Gondwana
Let's go back in time a few years, 500 million years to be exact, to see how plate tectonics led to the formation of the large supercontinent that we now know as Gondwana. Before this time, there were several distinct landmasses in the Southern hemisphere.
The Destruction of Gondwana
Pangaea was not as long-lived as Gondwana, though, and about 250 million years ago it began to break apart.
Evidence for the Existence of Gondwana
How do we know that Gondwana actually existed? There were certainly no people living hundreds of millions of years ago, so we don't have any recorded history of these events. However, there is a lot of evidence that these landmasses were once joined.
Evolution
Formation
- This early version of Gondwana joined with the other landmasses on Earth to form the single supercontinent Pangaea by about 300 million years ago. About 280 million to 230 million years ago, Pangaea started to split. Magma from below the Earth's crust began pushing upward, creating a fissure between what would become Africa, South America and North America.
Geology
- As part of this process, Pangaea cracked into a northernmost and southernmost supercontinent. The northern landmass, Laurasia, would drift north and gradually split into Europe, Asia and North America. The southern landmass, still carrying all those bits and pieces of the future southern hemisphere, headed southward after the split. This supercontinent was Gondwana.
Climate
- During Gondwana's stint as the southerly supercontinent, the planet was much warmer than it was today there was no Antarctic ice sheet, and dinosaurs still roamed the Earth. By this time, it was the Jurassic Period, and much of Gondwana was covered with lush rainforest.
Cause
- The exact mechanisms behind Gondwana's split are still unknown. Some theorists believe that \"hot spots,\" where magma is very close to the surface, bubbled up and rifted the supercontinent apart. In 2008, however, University of London researchers suggested that Gondwana instead split into two tectonic plates, which then broke apart.
Discovery
- The existence of Gondwana was first hypothesized in the mid-1800s by Eduard Suess, a Viennese geologist who dubbed the theoretical continent \"Gondwanaland.\" Suess was tipped off by similar fern fossils found in South America, India and Africa (the same fossils would later be found in Antarctica). At the time, plate tectonics weren't understood, so Suess didn't realize that …
Name
- Suess got the name Gondwanaland from the Gondwana region of central India, where geological formations match those of similar ages in the southern hemisphere.