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Will There Ever Be Another Pangea? [super continent]
LiveScience ^ | October 4, 2018 | Aylin Woodward, Live Science Contributor

Posted on 10/09/2018 2:26:16 PM PDT by ETL

"...roughly 251 million years ago — Earth's continents abutted one another, merging to form the supercontinent Pangea. That land mass, which straddled the equator like an ancient Pac-Man, eventually split into Gondwana in the south and Laurasia in the north.

From there, Gondwana and Laurasia separated into the seven continents that we know today. But the constant movement of Earth's tectonic plates raises a question: Will there ever be another supercontinent like Pangea?

The answer is yes.

Pangea wasn't the first supercontinent to form during Earth's 4.5-billion-year geologic history, and it won't be the last.

"That's the one part of the debate that there isn't much debate over," Ross Mitchell, a geologist at Curtin University in Perth, Australia, told Live Science.

"But what 'the next Pangea' will look like … that's where opinions diverge."

Geologists agree that there is a well-established, fairly regular cycle of supercontinent formation. It's happened three times in the past. The first one was Nuna (also called Columbia), which existed from about 1.8 billion to 1.3 billion years ago. Next came Rodinia, which dominated the planet between 1.2 billion and 750 million years ago. So, there's no reason to think that another supercontinent won't form in the future, Mitchell said.

The convergence and spreading of continents are tied to movements of tectonic plates. The Earth's crust is divided into nine major plates that glide over the mantle, the liquid layer that sits between the core and the semi-solid crust. In a process called convection, hotter material rises from near the Earth's core toward the surface, while colder mantle rock sinks. The rising and falling of mantle material either spreads plates apart, or forces them together by pushing one under another.

(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Science
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To: ETL

After seeing the evidence, and now with “Starwater theory”, I’m really believing the “Expanding Earth” theory.

I encourage everyone to look both up, really fascinating stuff.


41 posted on 10/09/2018 3:24:09 PM PDT by Celerity
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To: ETL

Only a matter of time . . .


42 posted on 10/09/2018 3:25:08 PM PDT by tomkat
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To: ETL
FR needs a thread for Bishop Usher day .. think it's around 16 October.

Trolling the FlatEarther crowd   ;-)

43 posted on 10/09/2018 3:29:38 PM PDT by tomkat
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To: ETL
Will There Ever Be Another Pangea? [super continent]

No, because by that time there’ll be so many people on the continents that they will capsize and sink...

...or so I heard.

44 posted on 10/09/2018 3:31:28 PM PDT by Magnatron
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To: KarlInOhio
It’s all because of Plate Teutonics: my theory that the Germans are moving the continents around.

Absolutely, and I'm still pissed about that Pearl Harbor stunt they pulled .. grrrrr !

45 posted on 10/09/2018 3:31:40 PM PDT by tomkat
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To: ETL

” Gondwana (and Pangaea) gradually broke up during the Mesozoic Era [Triassic Period].”

It’s not you, its me. The breakup was amicable.


46 posted on 10/09/2018 3:35:07 PM PDT by Redcitizen (I don't always lurk, but when I do, Freerepublic.)
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To: ETL

We can’t be having any super continent privelege.


47 posted on 10/09/2018 3:35:20 PM PDT by TADSLOS (I hate Russian Dolls. They are so full of themselves.)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

Banging tattoos?


48 posted on 10/09/2018 4:46:31 PM PDT by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
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To: All
"Pangea. That land mass, which straddled the equator like an ancient Pac-Man, eventually split into Gondwana in the south and Laurasia in the north.

The breakup of Pangea resulted in the formation of the Atlantic Ocean. It was more a split between North/South America and Africa/Europe.

49 posted on 10/09/2018 5:08:14 PM PDT by ETL (Obama-Hillary, REAL Russia collusion! Uranium-One Deal, Missile Defense, Iran Deal, Nukes: Click ETL)
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To: lepton

tat·too1
noun
* an evening drum or bugle signal recalling soldiers to their quarters.
an entertainment consisting of music, marching, and the performance of displays and exercises by military personnel.
* a rhythmic tapping or drumming.


50 posted on 10/10/2018 2:53:18 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: Bob Celeste

Sure it was. And dinosaurs were built into the rock.


51 posted on 10/10/2018 3:10:51 AM PDT by Vermont Lt
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To: ETL

There is a continental lift on Lake Champlain in Burlington. That is where the African plate shoved up into North America. As you drive up Route 89 you can see the line in the rocks—on one side the rock is black, the other it’s green. If you are not paying attention you will miss it.

Nothing ever stays the same.


52 posted on 10/10/2018 3:13:49 AM PDT by Vermont Lt
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To: Vermont Lt

And for anyone with way too much time on their hands....

https://pubs.usgs.gov/sim/3111/pdf/SIM3111_Pamphlet_Web.pdf


53 posted on 10/10/2018 3:20:40 AM PDT by Vermont Lt
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