Gondwana

Gondwana was a southern supercontinent that assembled during the Neoproterozoic and persisted through much of the Mesozoic. Its geological and fossil matches across now-separated continents helped support continental drift.

Pangaea: A supercontinent that assembled in the late Paleozoic and began breaking apart in the Jurassic. Gondwana formed Pangaea’s southern portion before the supercontinent fragmented.
Continental rifting: The stretching and thinning of continental lithosphere that can split a continent into separate plates. Rifting opened the fractures through which Gondwana’s pieces began to separate.
Glossopteris: An extinct seed-fern genus whose fossils occur across several southern continents. Its distribution across Gondwanan fragments helped indicate their former continuity.
Gondwana assembly: The accretion of southern continental blocks into Gondwana during the Neoproterozoic and early Paleozoic. Its assembly established the landmass later recognized through geological and fossil matches.
Laurasia: The northern landmass produced when Pangaea divided into northern and southern supercontinents. Its separation from Gondwana clarifies Gondwana’s position within Pangaea.
Seafloor spreading: The formation of new oceanic crust at mid-ocean ridges as tectonic plates move apart. New ocean floor widened the gaps between fragments of Gondwana.
Mesosaurus: An extinct freshwater reptile known from fossils in southern Africa and South America. Its fossils on opposite sides of the South Atlantic challenged fixed-continent geography.
Pan-African orogeny: A series of Neoproterozoic mountain-building events that joined crustal blocks across Africa and neighboring regions. These events helped weld major components of Gondwana together.
Continental drift: The large-scale movement of continents across Earth’s surface over geological time. Gondwana’s matching rocks and fossils supplied evidence for this idea.
Indian Ocean: The ocean basin bordered by Africa, Asia, Australia, and Antarctica. Its opening records the separation of Africa, India, Antarctica, and Australia.

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