Columbia (supercontinent)

Columbia was a proposed Proterozoic supercontinent assembled roughly 1.9–1.5 billion years ago. Its reconstruction links geological regions now separated across several continents.

Nuna (supercontinent): Nuna is a proposed name for a Proterozoic supercontinent often treated as equivalent to Columbia. The competing name reflects debate over whether Columbia and Nuna designate the same reconstruction.
Craton: A craton is a stable, ancient part of continental lithosphere that has resisted major deformation. Columbia's reconstruction joins several cratons whose old cores survive within modern continents.
Plate tectonics: Plate tectonics describes the movement and interaction of rigid plates forming Earth's outer shell. It supplies the framework for interpreting Columbia's collisions, sutures, and dispersal.
Columbia breakup: Columbia breakup was the dispersal of the proposed supercontinent during the Mesoproterozoic. Its rifting ended Columbia as a coherent landmass and set up later continental rearrangements.
Paleomagnetism: Paleomagnetism studies the record of Earth's magnetic field preserved in rocks. Ancient magnetic directions constrain the past positions and rotations of Columbia's constituent landmasses.
Laurentia: Laurentia is an ancient continental landmass whose remnants form much of North America and Greenland. It was one of the largest proposed components of Columbia.
Continental collision: Continental collision occurs when tectonic plates bring two continental masses together. Collisions welded Columbia's separate crustal blocks into a larger landmass.
Supercontinent cycle: The supercontinent cycle is the recurring assembly and breakup of Earth's large continental groupings. Columbia is one proposed stage in the long sequence of continental aggregation and dispersal.
Trans-Hudson Orogen: The Trans-Hudson Orogen is a major Paleoproterozoic mountain belt in central North America. Its age and geological links help support connections between Laurentia and other Columbia blocks.
Baltica: Baltica is an ancient continental landmass underlying much of northern and eastern Europe. Its Precambrian crust is commonly included in reconstructions of Columbia.

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