How+did+Pangaea+break+apart?


 * __HOW DID PANGAEA BREAK APART?__**

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**Pangea was, in a very early geological time, was a "Super Continent" that was made up of almost all the land on earth. Pangea covered nearly 1/3 of the earths area. The continent was enclosed by the ginormous ocean known as The Panthalassa Global Ocean. The break up of the massive continent is still unknown but one theory suggests that it was the cause of plate tectonics. The plate tectonics state that Earth’s outer shell also know as the lithosphere, is made up of large rigid plates that move apart at oceanic ridges and come together at subduction zones, or they will slip past each other along fault lines. The pattern that is on the seafloor spreading, indicates that Pangea did not break apart all at once but rather broke up in different stages. We know that there once was a super continent, actually there were several of these continents, and that they split apart in stages but we still cannot explain how they split apart. **


 * Sehej S **

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/441211/Pangea
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__Additional Responses:__

__Response 2:__

Pangaea was the last “Super Continent” that was fully assembled in the Permian period. This continent covered 1/3 of the earth, and was surrounded the Panthalassa ocean. All the present day continents Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe, Antarctica, and the Artic, made up this vast continent.

After Pangaea was fully formed in the Permian period (270 million years ago), the super continent began to break apart in the early Jurassic period (200 million years ago). This break up can be explained by plate tectonics. The Earths outer core, or lithosphere is made up of large, ridged plates. These plates carry continents on their backs, and 200 million years ago, these plates, which used to form Pangaea, began to break apart. Creating our modern continental formation.

Aidan B. Ingstrup

Reference: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/441211/Pangea

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