protocontinent

[proh-toh-kon-tn-uh nt]

noun Geology.

an actual or hypothetical landmass that might later be enlarged into a major continent or broken up into smaller ones.

Origin of protocontinent

First recorded in 1955–60; proto- + continent

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

protocontinent in Science

protocontinent

[prō′tō-kŏn′tə-nənt]

A landmass that existed at some point in the past. Protocontinents that are thought to have comprised some or all of the present-day continents in a single landmass are also known as supercontinents.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.