Laurasia

American  

[law-rey-zhuh, -shuh] / lɔˈreɪ ʒə, -ʃə /

noun

Geology.

1. a hypothetical landmass in the Northern Hemisphere near the end of the Paleozoic Era: split apart to form North America and Eurasia.

---

Laurasia British  

/ lɔːˈreɪʃə /

noun

1. one of the two ancient supercontinents produced by the first split of the even larger supercontinent Pangaea about 200 million years ago, comprising what are now North America, Greenland, Europe, and Asia (excluding India) See also Gondwanaland Pangaea

---

Laurasia Scientific  

/ lô-rā′zhə /

1. A supercontinent of the Northern Hemisphere made up of the landmasses that currently correspond to North America, Greenland, Europe, and Asia (except India). According to the theory of plate tectonics, Laurasia separated from Pangaea at the end of the Paleozoic Era and broke up into the current continents in the middle of the Mesozoic Era.

2. Compare Gondwanaland

---

Etymology

Origin of Laurasia

1930–35; blend of Laurentian ( def. 2 ) and Eurasia

Example Sentences

Earlier theories suggested that Podonominae originated in northern Gondwana before spreading northward into Laurasia, the ancient landmass that included today's Northern Hemisphere continents.

From Science Daily • Oct. 15, 2025

It’s the late Jurassic Period in the super continent of Laurasia, some 85 million years into the reign of the dinosaurs.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 15, 2024

When mammals were emerging, Gondwana encompassed Africa, India, Australia and South America and was far larger than Laurasia in the Northern Hemisphere.

From New York Times • Jul. 16, 2023

It lived in a temperate climate zone on the supercontinent Laurasia, surrounded by lush plants and lots of insects on the hilly shores of a lake, where it probably met an unlucky end.

From Scientific American • Feb. 13, 2015

Although textbooks give confident-looking representations of ancient landmasses with names like Laurasia, Gondwana, Rodinia, and Pangaea, these are sometimes based on conclusions that don’t altogether hold up.

From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson