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In geology, a supercontinent is the assembly of most or all of Earth's continental blocks or cratons to form a single large landmass. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] However, some geologists use a different definition, "a grouping of formerly dispersed continents", which leaves room for interpretation and is easier to apply to Precambrian times. [ 4 ]
The supercontinent cycle is the quasi-periodic aggregation and dispersal of Earth's continental crust. There are varying opinions as to whether the amount of continental crust is increasing, decreasing, or staying about the same, but it is agreed that the Earth's crust is constantly being reconfigured.
The supercontinent Columbia about 1.6 billion years ago Columbia , also known as Nuna or Hudsonland , is a hypothetical ancient supercontinent . It was first proposed by John J.W. Rogers and M. Santosh in 2002 [ 1 ] and is thought to have existed approximately 2,500 to 1,500 million years ago (Ma), in the Paleoproterozoic era.
Gondwana (/ ɡ ɒ n d ˈ w ɑː n ə /) [1] was a large landmass, sometimes referred to as a supercontinent.The remnants of Gondwana make up around two-thirds of today's continental area, including South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia, Zealandia, Arabia, and the Indian subcontinent.
Rodinia formed at c. 1.23 Ga by accretion and collision of fragments produced by breakup of an older supercontinent, Columbia, assembled by global-scale 2.0–1.8 Ga collisional events. [7] Rodinia broke up in the Neoproterozoic, with its continental fragments reassembled to form Pannotia 633–573 Ma.
Pangaea is the most recent supercontinent reconstructed from the geologic record and therefore is by far the best understood. The formation of supercontinents and their breakup appears to be cyclical through Earth's history.
Amasia, 100 million years in the future [citation needed]. Amasia is a possible future supercontinent which could be formed by the merger of Asia and the Americas.The prediction relies mostly on the fact that the Pacific plate is already subducting under Eurasia and the Americas, a process which if continued will eventually cause the Pacific to close. [1]
The Aurica hypothesis was created by scholars at the Geological Magazine [1] following an American Geophysical Union study linking the strength of ocean tides to the supercontinent cycle. [2] The name is a portmanteau of America and Australia, which form the core of the supercontinent. The study noted that "When tectonic plates slide, sink and ...