What is the difference between laurasia and gondwanaland

The patterns of dispersal and development of modern oceans are left to chapter 9, and the histories of continents following dispersal to chapter By the later part of the s, geologists working in the southern hemisphere realized that the Paleozoic fossils that occurred there were very different from those in the northern hemisphere.

They found similar fossils in South America, Africa, Madagascar, India, and Australia, and in they added Antarctica when identical specimens were found by the Scott expedition.

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Recently viewed 0 Save Search. Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content. Continents and Supercontinents. Find in Worldcat. Go to page:. Your current browser may not support copying via this button. The modern continents as we know them were clustered into a single large continent called Pangaea that broke apart by seafloor spreading.

The world geography was not dominated by Pangaea for all time before the end of the Paleozoic. The Earth's plates had probably clumped up more than once in he past and moved apart before clumping up again.

That cycle of clumping and reopening of oceans is called the Wilson Cycle. The largest clumped continents such as Pangaea are called supercontinents. There are few guesses about the layout of continents before Pangaea because clues from earlier rocks are difficult to decipher. Tectonic activity not only totally destroys oceanic crust, but it munches up continental crust. Why give a supercontinent such as Pangaea a special name rather than call it by modern names?

We give a unique name to any single continental landmass today.