Essay On Pangaea

649 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Secondar effects of volcanic erruptions

The Formation of Pangaea
One theory, which explains the mass extinctions of the Permian, is the reduction of shallow continental shelves due to the formation of the super-continent Pangaea. Pangaea at the time of the Permian extinction extended from pole to pole. It was formed about 300,000 million years ago by the collision of Laurasia from the north and Gondwana from the south. The super ocean Panthalasa surrounded it. The theory of the formation of Pangaea and the mass extinction occurred over 250 million years ago. The Pangaea theory states that all present continents were once together and collectively known as a super continent. The Pangaea was integrated at the beginning of the Permian time, and reached its acme during the late Permian to early Triassic. During this time the average thickness of a continental lithosphere was higher, and all oceans gathered to form Panthalasa. The peak of Pangaea and Panthalasa was a period of high continent and deep ocean, which unavoidably makes great regression and influence on the earths system especially climate. As mentioned above, during the formation of Pangaea there was reduction of shallow continental shelves. Such a reduction in oceanic continental shelve would result in ecological competition for space, perhaps acting as an agent for extinction. Pangaea broke up about 200 million years ago, and the split up pieces is what are earth is now. At the time of the mass extinction, Pangaea created glaciation, produced change in regional and global climates and caused marine deterioration. Overall this theory of Pangaea is sustainable, due to the fact that it happened during the early and middle Permian period.
Glaciation
During the time of the Permian extinction Pangaea stretched...

... middle of paper ...

...the world. The combination of sulphates in the atmosphere and the ejection of ash clouds may have lowered global climatic conditions. As a result of all of these things happening the ocean levels changed drastically, which killed marine life and reduced biodiversity. Volcanic eruptions and decaying organic matter brought on severe greenhouse warming. According to Red Orbit a team concluded that the volcanic activity was most likely episodic. This would create pulses of acid rain and ozone depletion. Combined with an overall temperature increase from greenhouse gas emissions, the extreame variations in pH and ultraviolet radiation that were a result of the episodic activity could have contributed to the end-Permian mass extinction on land. The age of the lava flows has also been dated to the time in which the Permian mass extinction occurred making this theory viable.

Show More
Related

  • Terra Nullius Essay

    754 Words  | 2 Pages

    Terra Nullius which is referred as “land belonging to no one” was an obstacle in order to achieve Native Title which is the right to land by the original inhabitants, as the Indigenous people had to prove that they were traditional owners of the land with an ongoing connection to it in order to claim native title, which was difficult as they had been forced off their land almost 200 years before. In order to achieve the native title, it had to be claimed by people with the ancestors that inhabited and associated with the land before the European settlement.

    Read More

  • The Columbian Exchange : Trading Corn For Smallpox

    936 Words  | 2 Pages

    To set the stage, we must go back 270 million years ago when a majority of the earth’s land masses were collected together in a single continent, a supercontinent, named Pangaea (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1). Historian Alfred Crosby explained that this collected all of earth’s land based biology into a single place, creating a single Darwinian “arena for competition” (Crosby, 1). Or in other words, one big evolutionary pot. Crosby also explains that 180 million years ago, Pangea split into two major land masses, what is now the Americas in the Western Hemisphere as one land mass and Euro-Asia and Africa as the second lass mass (Crosby, 1). What was once a single evolutionary pot, was now two, allowing for plant and animal life to take different evolutionary paths. These two worlds remained relatively separate from each other until the arrival of Christopher Columbus and other European explorers. That contact between the old world and the new world brought two distinct evolutionary arenas crashing into each other and returned a majority of the earth’s landmass into a single Darwinian pot, (Crosby, 1) This was Crosby’s re-knitting of the torn “seams of Pangaea.”

    Read More

  • The Permian-Triassic Extinction 250 Million Years Ago

    615 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Permian-Triassic Extinction is a mass extinction that occurred between the Permian and Triassic geologic time periods approximately 250 million years ago; it is the deadliest of all extinctions that have occurred on Earth. In addition, during the Permian-Triassic extinction the continents of today existed as one supercontinent known as Pangaea. This was the first time in history where continental or land mass exceeded that of the ocean. This was also before dinosaurs of the Triassic period roamed Earth, during this time animals such as the therapsids, and Synapsids such as the Pelycosaurs, insects and amphibians also occupied Earth. Fauna that existed during the Permian period includes Gymnosperms, or seed producing plants such as the Conifers. Other animals that existed during this time include marine life such as brachiopods (clams), bryozoans (coral-like skeletons), bony fish and sharks, as well as crinoids (sea urchin like creatures). According to National Geographic, about 90 percent of all the animals and fauna of this period perished, the marine life was hit the hardest wi...

    Read More

  • The Eruption Of Mount Saint Helens

    1062 Words  | 3 Pages

    In conclusion, this powerful event tore the landscape, obliterated the geography, and had a colossal impact on the environment and the way that people observed data. These examples of explosions, mudslides and ash helped make improvements towards the future and understandings of past events. Even though Mount Saint Helens destroyed the landscape, it built a better understanding of human knowledge.

    Read More

  • Reasons for the Collapse of the Minoan Civilization at the End of the Bronze Age

    864 Words  | 2 Pages

    From modern examples and records we know that volcanic activity can set of a chai...

    Read More

  • The Permian Triassic Mass Extinction

    581 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Permian Triassic extinction was an event of cataclysmic disaster and almost the extinction of all species on planet earth. The Permian Triassic extinction is said to have occurred millions of years ago, geologist have estimated that its occurrences happened about 248 million to 286 million years ago. This rare occurrence of events proceeded the Triassic geologic periods and the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras. This mass disaster was the largest dissipation of living life on planet earth; it is believed to be even superior to other crises such as the Ordovician and Devonian events and the conclusion of the cretaceous era that came upon the dinosaurs.

    Read More

  • Permian Period Mass Extinction

    1113 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Permian Period was the last period of the Paleozoic Era. During this geological time period’s earlier stages glaciation was extensive. Middle Permian began to warm, and by the late Permian the environment was hot and dry. The environmental conditions were so extreme that the marine and terrestrial life forms were greatly affected. According to research the drastic climate change could have been caused by the formation of Pangaea. In 1912 Alfred Wegener while studying his theory of the continental drift, discovered Pangaea’s very existence. A combination of all of Earth’s landmasses joined together and covered 1/3 of Earth’s surface. Pangaea was f...

    Read More

  • The Cretaceous Extinction Event

    1325 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...asted about a million years. The eruption was not violent compared to others, but it was able to send ash as high as the stratosphere. So another theory is that shifting of the tectonic plates caused the Deccan Traps to erupt, causing the release of massive amounts of carbon dioxide out of the earths crust. This went on to create a global greenhouse effect that cooked the planet. This along with climate change from continental drift could have caused the K-T event. Paleontologist Richard Cowen believes the evidence of an asteroid impact is so strong that there is no point to explain that evidence as solely volcanic effects. We should concentrate on the fact that the K-T boundary coincided with two different, yet very dramatic events.

    Read More

  • Mass Extinction

    2446 Words  | 5 Pages

    Several mass extinctions have occurred during the Earth’s history. The Cretaceous – Tertiary Boundary (K-T) Extinction caused the loss of at least three-quarters of all species known at that time including the dinosaurs. The cause of this mass extinction is a controversial subject among scientists but the fossil evidence of it’s occurrence is abundant.

    Read More

  • 6th Mass Extinction Essay

    2004 Words  | 5 Pages

    Our Earth has experienced five mass extinctions that were caused by natural disasters such as comet or meteor showers impacting and destroying sections of the Earth, the shifting of continents caused by the shifts of platonic plates and climate changes such as the end of the ice age that caused certain species to die out. These mass extinctions happened over a long period of thousands of years and not in the concentrated 200 years of drastic geological and biological changes that have caused scientists to believe that we are now living in the 6th mass extinction. Annenberg Learner (2013) says

    Read More

  • Plate Tectonics Essay

    1453 Words  | 3 Pages

    Plate tectonics is the theory that landmasses on tectonic plates are in slow constant movement due to convection currents in the mantle. Plate tectonics, or the movements of plates above the lithosphere (the most upper layer of earth's crust) can cause divergent, convergent,and transform boundaries.A boundary the way two tectonic plates collide. is Continental plates are plates that the continents are formed on. Oceanic plates are plates that the ocean covers, and the oceans form on top of these plates. Convergent boundaries and divergent boundaries are ways that these oceanic and continental plates interact with each other. Landforms are formed at boundaries. The landforms formed at boundaries depends on the type of plates that collide, and

    Read More

  • Geology Essay

    984 Words  | 2 Pages

    When people think of geology, they usually think of rocks and fossils. However, geology is actually a very large field of study. The knowledge of geologists ranges from rocks and fossils to the moon and other planets (Hammonds 7-8). Geologists use a variety of subjects in their work, but the sciences and math are the most important. Some of the sciences geologists study are physics and chemistry (12). English is also a subject that geologists use when communicating with other scientists, the media, and the public (12) . Because of these tasks, it is important for geologists to have a wide knowledge of these different subjects.

    Read More

  • Essay On The Earth System

    1464 Words  | 3 Pages

    Earth system refers to the earths interacting physical, biological, and chemical processes. The system consists of land, oceans, atmosphere and poles. The earth system has four spheres, including the geosphere, the hydrosphere, the atmosphere, and the biosphere. The geosphere refers to the solid parts of the earth system, including earth’s rocky crust, mantle, and the metallic core. Within the geosphere is the lithosphere, which only refers to the uppermost layers of solid earth. The uppermost layers of solid earth are the oceanic and continental crust rocks. Just below the crust is the mantle, which is composed mostly of magnesium and iron silicate minerals. The mantle accounts for about 2/3 of the

    Read More

  • Speech On Endangered Species

    1646 Words  | 4 Pages

    Because the CO2 levels are rising, the ice caps are melting and many more animals can become extinct. When pangea started splitting, there was a lot of volcanic activity, which cause the death of many dinosaurs. A meteor also hit earth and the mass extinction of many land and marine animals happened. There have been five mass extinctions in Earth’s history. The worst one wiped out ninety-six percent of marine life and seventy percent of land organisms. This took millions of years to recover.

    Read More

  • Astronomy Essay

    1720 Words  | 4 Pages

    Ever since the beginning of time there have been stars. Not only stars in the sky, but moons, planets, and even galaxies! Astronomy is defined as the branch of science that deals with celestial objects, space, and the physical universe as a whole. In other words it is the study of space, planets, and stars. Throughout the ages, many people have used astronomy to help them learn about the universe, our own planet, and even make predictions about life itself. Understanding astronomy means understanding where it originated, the different groups/cultures that used it, and modern purposes of the science of the stars.

    Read More

More about Essay On Pangaea

Open Document