"Rise of the Continents Rise of the Continents is a British documentary television series that premiered on BBC Two on 9 Jun 2013. The four-part series is presented by geologist Iain Stewart. The series hypothesizes how 250 million years in the future, all of the continents will collide together once more, forming a new Pangea, with Eurasia right at its heart. Using clues like Africa's spectacular landmarks, mineral wealth and wildlife, Iain Stewart shows how the continent of Africa was formed from the wreckage of a long lost supercontinent. It features, among other things, creation of Victoria Falls, diamond mines"
"Pangaea Pangaea or Pangea () was a supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras. It assembled from earlier continental units approximately 335 million years ago, and it began to break apart about 175 million years ago. In contrast to the present Earth and its distribution of continental mass, much of Pangaea was in the southern hemisphere and surrounded by a superocean, Panthalassa. Pangaea was the most recent supercontinent to have existed and the first to be reconstructed by geologists. The name ""Pangaea/Pangea"" is derived from Ancient Greek ""pan"" (, ""all, entire, whole"") and ""Gaia"" (, ""Mother"
"Atlantica Atlantica (; ""Atlantika"") is an ancient continent that formed during the Proterozoic about (two billion years ago, Ga) from various 2 Ga cratons located in what is now West Africa and eastern South America. The name, introduced by , was chosen because the continent opened up to form the South Atlantic Ocean. Atlantica formed simultaneously with Nena at about 1.9 Ga from Archaean cratons, including Amazonia in present-day South America, and the Congo, West Africa and North Africa Cratons in Africa. Atlantica separated from Nena between 1.6–1.4 Ga when Columbia — a supercontinent composed of Ur, Nena, and Atlantica"
"Europe and Asia together as a single continent, dubbed ""Eurasia"". In this model, the world is divided into six continents, with North America and South America considered separate continents. Geologists use the term ""continent"" in a different manner from geographers. In geology a continent is defined by continental crust: a platform of metamorphic and igneous rock, largely of granitic composition. Some geologists restrict the term 'continent' to portions of the crust built around stable Precambrian ""shield"", typically 1.5 to 3.8 billion years old, called a craton. The craton itself is an accretionary complex of ancient mobile belts (mountain belts) from"
"a period of 2.0–1.8 billion years ago and broke up about 1.5–1.3 billion years ago. The supercontinent Rodinia is thought to have formed about 1 billion years ago and to have embodied most or all of Earth's continents, and broken up into eight continents around 600 million years ago. The eight continents later re-assembled into another supercontinent called Pangaea; Pangaea broke up into Laurasia (which became North America and Eurasia) and Gondwana (which became the remaining continents). The following table lists the seven continents with their highest and lowest points on land, sorted in decreasing highest points. † The lowest"
"a great quantity of Land, not separated by any Sea from the rest of the World, as the whole Continent of Europe, Asia, Africa."" In 1727, Ephraim Chambers wrote in his ""Cyclopædia,"" ""The world is ordinarily divided into two grand continents: the old and the new."" And in his 1752 atlas, Emanuel Bowen defined a continent as ""a large space of dry land comprehending many countries all joined together, without any separation by water. Thus Europe, Asia, and Africa is one great continent, as America is another."" However, the old idea of Europe, Asia and Africa as ""parts"" of the"
"demarcated by GSSPs. The Precambrian could be divided into five ""natural"" eons, characterized as follows: The movement of Earth's plates has caused the formation and break-up of continents over time, including occasional formation of a supercontinent containing most or all of the landmass. The earliest known supercontinent was Vaalbara. It formed from proto-continents and was a supercontinent 3.636 billion years ago. Vaalbara broke up c. 2.845–2.803 Ga ago. The supercontinent Kenorland was formed c. 2.72 Ga ago and then broke sometime after 2.45–2.1 Ga into the proto-continent cratons called Laurentia, Baltica, Yilgarn craton, and Kalahari. The supercontinent Columbia or Nuna"
"formed - the Atlantic Ocean, though Greenland (attached to North America) and Europe were still joined together. The separation of Europe and Greenland occurred around 55 million years ago (at the end of the Paleocene). Laurasia finally divided into the continents after which it is named: Laurentia (now North America) and Eurasia (excluding the Indian subcontinent). Laurasia Laurasia () was the more northern of two supercontinents (the other being Gondwana) that formed part of the Pangaea supercontinent around (Mya). It separated from Gondwana (beginning in the late Triassic period) during the breakup of Pangaea, drifting farther north after the split."
"Earth, land""). The concept that the continents once formed a continuous land mass was first proposed by Alfred Wegener, the originator of the scientific theory of continental drift, in his 1912 publication ""The Origin of Continents"" (""Die Entstehung der Kontinente""). He expanded upon his hypothesis in his 1915 book ""The Origin of Continents and Oceans"" (""Die Entstehung der Kontinente und Ozeane""), in which he postulated that, before breaking up and drifting to their present locations, all the continents had formed a single supercontinent that he called the """"Urkontinent"""". The name ""Pangea"" occurs in the 1920 edition of ""Die Entstehung der"
"Plateau (off Norway), Faroe-Shetland Basin, Hebrides, Outer Moray Firth and Denmark. The supercontinent known as Pangea existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras and began to rift around 200 million years ago. Pangea had three major phases of breakup. The first major phase began in the Early-Middle Jurassic, taking place between North America and Africa. The second major phase of breakup began in the Early Cretaceous. The South Atlantic Ocean opened around 140 million years ago as Africa separated from South America, and about the same time, India separated from Antarctica and Australia, forming the central Indian Ocean."
"now the Atlantic Ocean. The large continent of Atlantis is said to have ""first divided, and then broken later on into seven peninsulas and islands"". When the main part of Atlantis began to sink, Atlantean settlers migrated to the new lands which were rising to the east, west, and south. These new lands became the Americas, Africa, parts of Asia, and the present European countries, stretching from the Ural Mountains of Russia, westward to include the islands of Ireland and Britain, and even farther westward than that in former times. Some emigrants from the remaining islands in the Atlantic settled"
"Siberia (continent) Siberia, also known as Angaraland (or simply Angara) and Angarida, is an ancient craton located in the heart of Siberia. Today forming the Central Siberian Plateau, it formed an independent continent before the Permian period. Angaraland was named in the 1880s by Austrian geologist Eduard Suess who erroneously believed that in the Paleozoic there were two large continents in the Northern Hemisphere: ""Atlantis"", North America connected to Europe by a peninsula (=Greenland and Iceland); and ""Angara-land"", eastern Asia, named after the Angara River in Siberia. About 2.5 billion years ago (Siderian), Siberia was part of a continent of"
"with other islands in the Pacific into one continent called Oceania. This divides the entire land surface of Earth into continents or quasi-continents. The ideal criterion that each continent is a discrete landmass is commonly relaxed due to historical conventions. Of the seven most globally recognized continents, only Antarctica and Australia are completely separated from other continents by the ocean. Several continents are defined not as absolutely distinct bodies but as """"more or less"" discrete masses of land"". Asia and Africa are joined by the Isthmus of Suez, and North and South America by the Isthmus of Panama. In both"
"formed 2.06–1.82 billion years ago and broke up about 1.5–1.35 billion years ago. The supercontinent Rodinia is thought to have formed about 1.13–1.071 billion years ago, to have embodied most or all of Earth's continents and to have broken up into eight continents around 750–600 million years ago. Precambrian The Precambrian (or Pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pЄ, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of the Phanerozoic eon, which is named after Cambria, the Latinised name for Wales, where rocks"
"Arctica Arctica or Arctida was an ancient continent which formed approximately 2.565 billion years ago in the Neoarchean era. It was made of Archaean cratons, including the Aldan and Anabar/Angara cratons in Siberia and the Slave, Wyoming, Superior, and North Atlantic cratons in North America. Arctica was named by because the Arctic Ocean formed by the separation of the North American and Siberian cratons. Russian geologists writing in English call the continent ""Arctida"" since it was given that name in 1987, alternatively the Hyperborean craton, in reference to the hyperboreans in Greek mythology. Nikolay Shatsky () was the first to"
"— fragmented. Together with continents Nena and Ur and some minor plates, Atlantica formed the supercontinent Rodinia about 1 Ga ago. The rifting of Rodinia between 1–0.5 Ga resulted in the formation of three new continents: Laurasia and East and West Gondwana, of which Atlantica became the nucleus of the latter. During this later stage, the Neoproterozoic era, a Brasiliano-Pan African orogenic system developed. The central part of this system, the Araçuaí-West Congo orogen, has left a distinct pattern of deformations, still present on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Atlantica Atlantica (; ""Atlantika"") is an ancient continent that formed"
"earth] has been divided into three parts, Europe, Africa, and Asia… Now, these parts of the earth have been more extensively explored and a fourth part has been discovered by Amerigo Vespucci... Thus the earth is now known to be divided into four parts. The first three parts are continents, while the fourth is an island, inasmuch as it is found to be surrounded on all sides by the seas. The Johannes Schöner Globe (1523), a printed globe, was made in 1523. It was considered to have been lost until identified by George Nunn in 1927. . The Johannes Schöner's"
"or all of which came from ice delivered by comets, produced the oceans and other water sources. The highly energetic chemistry is believed to have produced a self-replicating molecule around 4 billion years ago. Continents formed, then broke up and reformed as the surface of Earth reshaped over hundreds of millions of years, occasionally combining to make a supercontinent. Roughly 750 million years ago, the earliest known supercontinent Rodinia, began to break apart. The continents later recombined to form Pannotia which broke apart about 540 million years ago, then finally Pangaea, which broke apart about 180 million years ago. During"
"continents have been accurately determined back to the early Jurassic, shortly before the breakup of Pangaea (see animated image). The earlier continent Gondwana is not considered a supercontinent under the first definition, since the landmasses of Baltica, Laurentia and Siberia were separate at the time. The following table displays historical supercontinents, using a general definition. There are two contrasting models for supercontinent evolution through geological time. The first model theorizes that at least two separate supercontinents existed comprising Vaalbara (from ~3636 to ) and Kenorland (from ~2720 to ). The Neoarchean supercontinent consisted of Superia and Sclavia. These parts of"
"Four continents Europeans in the 16th century divided the world into four continents: Africa, America, Asia and Europe. Each of the four continents was seen to represent its quadrant of the world—Europe in the north, Asia in the east, Africa in the south, and America in the west. This division fit the Renaissance sensibilities of the time, which also divided the world into four seasons, four classical elements, four cardinal directions, four classical virtues, etc. The four parts of the world or the four corners of the world refers to the Americas (the ""west""), Europe (the ""north""), Asia (the ""east""),"
"time scales lasting hundreds of millions of years, the supercontinents have formed and broken apart three times. Roughly (million years ago), one of the earliest known supercontinents, Rodinia, began to break apart. The continents later recombined to form Pannotia, 600–, then finally Pangaea, which also broke apart . ""Land mass"" refers to the total surface area of the land of a geographical region or country (which may include discontinuous pieces of land such as islands). It is written as two words to distinguish it from the usage ""landmass"", the contiguous area of land surrounded by ocean. Earth's total land mass"
"Paleozoic the majority of all continental landmasses were united in the paleocontinent of Gondwana, containing the crust of future Africa, South America, southern Eurasia, Australia and Antarctica, which lay centered on the South Pole. Between 650 and 550 million years ago (in the Ediacaran period) the smaller continents of Laurentia (containing the future northeast section of North America), Baltica and Siberia had separated from Gondwana to move northward towards the equator. In the process, the Iapetus Ocean between Gondwana, Baltica and Laurentia closed. In the Early Ordovician period (about 480 million years ago) the microcontinent (a small fragment of continental"
"Euramerica Euramerica (also known as Laurussia – not to be confused with Laurasia, – the Old Red Continent or the Old Red Sandstone Continent) was a minor supercontinent created in the Devonian as the result of a collision between the Laurentian, Baltica, and Avalonia cratons during the Caledonian orogeny, about 410 million years ago. In the Late Carboniferous, tropical rainforests lay over the equator of Euramerica. A major, abrupt change in vegetation occurred when the climate aridified. The forest fragmented and the lycopsids which dominated these wetlands thinned out, being replaced by opportunistic ferns. There was also a great loss"
"represented by the Madrean Region. Although North America and South America are presently joined by the Isthmus of Panama, these continents were separated for about 180 million years, and evolved very different plant and animal lineages. When the ancient supercontinent of Pangaea split into two about 180 million years ago, North America remained joined to Eurasia as part of the supercontinent of Laurasia, while South America was part of the supercontinent of Gondwana. North America later split from Eurasia. North America has been joined by land bridges to both Asia and South America since then, which allowed an exchange of"
"the Earth's continents were all joined as single landmass known as Pangea which existed beyond 200 million years ago. Pangea split from east to west into Laurasia, comprising North America and Eurasia, and Gondwana, the two remaining connected at Gibraltar with the Tethys Sea separating them. The presence of closely related organisms in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres cannot be accounted for by migration. The Tarkine, located in island's far north west, is the largest temperate rainforest area in Australia covering approximately . The temperate rainforest has a high diversity of non-vascular plants: mosses, liverworts and lichens representing Australia's"
"spanned a wide range of climatic zones. A ""large, ancient Mediterranean Sea"" was first proposed by Austrian palaeontologist Melchior Neumayr in 1883. Studying the distribution of Jurassic faunas, he concluded that an equatorial ocean stretching from India to Central America must have separated a large continent in the northern hemisphere from one in the southern hemisphere. Austrian geologist Eduard Suess named this Mesozoic ocean the Tethys, a mythical ocean which separated a mythical continent – Gondwanaland, home of the tongue-shaped flora – from a boreal continent. German geophysicist Alfred Wegener, in contrast, developed a concept of a single, global continent"
"Ocean, located in the deep sea surrounding Madagascar. The boundary between Europe and Asia is unusual among continental boundaries because of its largely mountain-and-river-based characteristics north and east of the Black Sea. The reason is historical, the division of Europe and Asia going back to the early Greek geographers. In the modern sense of the term ""continent"", Eurasia is more readily identifiable as a ""continent"", and Europe has occasionally been described as a subcontinent of Eurasia. The threefold division of the Old World into Europe, Asia and Africa has been in use since the 6th century BC, due to Greek"
"the ""continents"" (or mainlands) of Isle of Man, Ireland and Wales and in 1745 to Sumatra. The word ""continent"" was used in translating Greek and Latin writings about the three ""parts"" of the world, although in the original languages no word of exactly the same meaning as ""continent"" was used. While ""continent"" was used on the one hand for relatively small areas of continuous land, on the other hand geographers again raised Herodotus's query about why a single large landmass should be divided into separate continents. In the mid-17th century, Peter Heylin wrote in his ""Cosmographie"" that ""A Continent is"
"fragments in northern Greenland and Northern Canada and in the submerged Lomonosov Ridge. Arctica Arctica or Arctida was an ancient continent which formed approximately 2.565 billion years ago in the Neoarchean era. It was made of Archaean cratons, including the Aldan and Anabar/Angara cratons in Siberia and the Slave, Wyoming, Superior, and North Atlantic cratons in North America. Arctica was named by because the Arctic Ocean formed by the separation of the North American and Siberian cratons. Russian geologists writing in English call the continent ""Arctida"" since it was given that name in 1987, alternatively the Hyperborean craton, in reference"
"the Cretaceous, the late-Paleozoic-to-early-Mesozoic supercontinent of Pangaea completed its tectonic breakup into the present-day continents, although their positions were substantially different at the time. As the Atlantic Ocean widened, the convergent-margin mountain building (orogenies) that had begun during the Jurassic continued in the North American Cordillera, as the Nevadan orogeny was followed by the Sevier and Laramide orogenies. Though Gondwana was still intact in the beginning of the Cretaceous, it broke up as South America, Antarctica and Australia rifted away from Africa (though India and Madagascar remained attached to each other); thus, the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans were newly"
"supercontinent Gondwana. This supercontinent began to break up 140 million years ago, and the New Guinea region (previously known as Sahul) moved towards the equator. As a result, animals from New Guinea travelled to Australian continent and vice versa, creating many different species living in different ecosystems. These activities still occur until the two regions separated completely. Asian continent influences, on the other hand, is the result of the reformation of the Laurasia supercontinent, which existed after the break-up of Rodinia around 1 billion years ago. Around 200 million years ago, the Laurasia supercontinent split completely, forming Laurentia (now America)"
"largest present part of the supercontinent cycle. The oldest part of Afro-Eurasia is probably the Kaapvaal Craton, which together with Madagascar and parts of India and western Australia formed part of the first supercontinent Vaalbara or Ur around 3 billion years ago. It has made up parts of every supercontinent since. At the breakup of Pangaea around 200 million years ago, the North American and Eurasian Plates together formed Laurasia while the African Plate remained in Gondwana, from which the Indian Plate split off. This impacted southern Asia around 50 million years ago and began the formation of the Himalayas."
"formed. The eastern part of this ocean formed between Baltica and Laurentia, the western part between Amazonia and Laurentia. Because the exact moments of this separation and the partially contemporaneous Pan-African orogeny are hard to correlate, it might be that all continental mass was again joined in one supercontinent between roughly 600 and 550 million years ago. This hypothetical supercontinent is called Pannotia. Unlike later supercontinents, Rodinia would have been entirely barren. Rodinia existed before complex life colonized dry land. Based on sedimentary rock analysis Rodinia's formation happened when the ozone layer was not as extensive as it is today."