A great landmass which was thought to be in the geological past, splitting into fragments drifting apart and again colliding into one another is called a supercontinent.1. VAALBARA -First ever made continent was Vaalbara which was 3.6 billion years old, it was named after kaapvaal and Pilbara which were the most ancient cratons present on that land mass. Kaapvaal is in Africa and Pilbara is in western Australia.2. UR- A supercontinent which was 3000 m.y.a and it was smaller than modern day Australia.3. KENORLAND- 2700 m.y.a famous events were HURONIAN GLACIATION. Also known as SNOWBALL   EARTH.Responsible for formation of phytoplanktons.and VREDEFORT impact.4. COLUMBIA- Also called as NUNA . Period between Snowball Earth and subsequent Oxidation is called as THE BARREN BILLION.5. RODINIA- 1130 m.y.a.SECOND SNOWBALL EARTH.Also known as NEOPROTEROZOIC GLACIATION.6. PANNOTIA- 750 m.y.aThe formation of Pannotia was associated with the breakup of Rodinia into Proto- Gondwana and Proto-Laurasia. Two oceans were PANTHALSSA and Pan-African Ocean.7. PANGEA- One of the Youngest Supercontinent of all time , there are plenty of evidences of this Supercontinent. Like marine fossils from TETHYS OCEAN can be observed in Himalayas.

1. SUPERCONTINENT
S
Presented by-
Mayank Joshi

2. A
Seminar Presentation
on
“ Supercontinents ”
Date of Presentation: 28th March 2019
Submitted by:
MayankV. Joshi
MSc.Tech(Applied geology)
II semester
Guided by
Biswajit Hazarika
Assistant Professor
POST GRADUATE DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY,
RASHTRASANT TUKADOJI MAHARAJ NAGPUR UNIVERSITY, NAGPUR
Year: 2018-2019

3.  Introduction
 Vaalbara
 Ur
 Kenorland
 Columbia
 Rodinia
 Pannotia
 Pangea
 Conclusion
 References

4.  A great landmass thought to have existed in the geological
past and to have split into smaller landmasses, which drifted
and formed the present continents
 Supercontinent cycles are semi regular groupings of the
planet's landmasses into single or large continents that
remain stable for a period of time, then disperse, and
eventually come back together as new amalgamated
landmasses with a different distribution.

5.  Considered possibly the first continent, since it was the ONLY
continent it is also considered a Supercontinent.
 Age - 3.3 to 2.8 Billion years
 Eon-Archean.
 Considered Speculative.The size and shape of this formation
are uncertain and for the most part are only hypothetical.
 The name of theVaalbara supercontinent origins from the
endings of the two most ancient cratons on the planet:
Kaapvaal (located mainly in South Africa) and Pilbara (same
named region in Northwestern Australia). They are highlighted
in red on the modern photo of the Earth.

7.  Smallest of Supercontinents.

 Existed 3 billion years ago. Formed in Neoarchean Era
 It is called Ur from the German prefix “ur” which means
“original”, “fountainhead”.
 Classified as the earliest known landmass. Ur, however,
was probably the largest, perhaps even the only
continent three billion years ago.
 “Today, Ur lives on as part of India, Madagascar, and
Australia” (Wilkins, 2011).

8.  “longest-lived landmass this planet will ever see”
(Wilkins, 2011).
 Remained until the break up of Pangea.
 Mantle was hotter and Sun was cooler, eventually
Sun warmed up and matle cooled down.
 It was smaller than Australia is today, an older rock
formation in Greenland belts dates back from Hadean
times.

10.  2.7 billion years ago.
 Formed from Neoarchaean cratons.
 The name was given in accordance with the Kenoran orogeny.
 As it had mountains from which heat was escaping caused chemical
weathering, which decreased CO2 levels in the atmosphere ,
resulting in FIRST SNOWBALL EARTH. Which had many glaciers
 HURONIAN GLACIATION- This was a series of glaciations and
warming cycles , which reduced chemical weathering which helped
carbon dioxide to build up resulting in THE GREAT WARMING.This
glaciations was put to an end by the breaking of KENORLAND.

11.  Mantle heath beneath the supercontinent eventually
caused it to rift apart.
 It was marked by invading sea, temperature mediation
resulting in glacier melt, increased rainfall and erosion.
 Organic nutrients such as phosphorus and iron were
free to swim In the sea and later became essential for
phytoplankton's which released enormous amount of
Oxygen and there was proliferation of life.
 This was all put to an end byVREDEFORT IMPACT,
which infact is the largest verified impact crater on
Earth.

13.  1.8 billion years ago. Up to 1.4 billion years, Proterozoic
eon and Paleoproterozoic era, that is from the beginning
of statherian period up to end of ectasian period.
 12,900km North to South, 4,800km East to West.
 Also called as NUNA.
 “It consisted of the proto-cratons that made up the
former continents of Laurentia, Baltica, Ukrainian Shield,
Amazonian Shield, Australia, and possibly Siberia, North
China, and Kalaharia as well”.
 Period between Snowball Earth and the subsequent
oxidation events Is called “THE BARREN BILLION.”

15.  Between 1.1 billion and 750 million years ago . It was
Proterozioc eon and it lasted from stenian to tonian to
cryogenian period.
 Little is known about geographical configurations
 Multiple theories
 “Existed before life colonized dry land, and, since it predated
the formation of the ozone layer, it was too exposed to
ultraviolet sunlight for any organism to inhabit it”.
 Second Snowball Earth.
 And also known as Neoproterozoic glaciations.

17.  750 million years ago. Eon – Proterozoic. Era-
Neoproterozoic
 Also known asVendian.
 Short-lived (60 million years) Active rifting
caused it to split into 4 continents.
 during the existence of Pannotia there were two
proto-oceans — Panthalassa and the Pan-African
ocean, which surrounded the supercontinent.

19.  300 million years ago
 Pangaea existed in the late Paleozoic and early
Mesozoic 300 mya. At that time, the supercontinent
united all modern continents into one. Many of today’s
mountain ranges were formed at the time of collision of
continents and lithospheric plates.
 Most commonly known supercontinent
 Fossil evidence of supercontinent.
 The time existence of Pangea was – Ordovician –
Silurian-Devonian-Carboniferous-Permian-Triassic-
Jurassic Period.

20.  This supercontinent saw appearance of of algae and
mollusks, spread of plants and fishes, first land
vertebrete occurred In devonian, outlines of pangea,
Greatest mass extinction in Earth’s history, climate
warming and appearance of large marine predators
and reptiles and amphibians. And lastly spread of
Dinosaurs.
 It breaked down into Laurasia and Gondwana.
Modern Eurasia and Northern America formed from
Laurasia and Africa, India, South America, Australia
and Antarctica formed from Gondwana.

22.  Supercontinent definition - Retrieved from Earth observatory -
(https://www.earthobservatory.sg/faq-on-earth-sciences/what-
supercontinent) .
 supercontinents in Earth’s History
(https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222049723_Supercontinents_
in_Earth_History) ((Page no. 357-368 · Published on - July 2003)
 Geological history of supercontinents on planet earth
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercontinent).
 M. Santosh, L.Wang andT Kusky. Supercontinent cycles (Pages 1403-
1423 | Accepted 24 Sep 2010, Published online: 12 Feb 2011)
(https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00206814.2010.527682).
 Images From :(https://the-dialogue.com/en/en33-earths-
supercontinents/).

23. THANKYOU