supercontinent

[soo-per-kon-tn-uhnt]

noun

Geology.

1. a hypothetical protocontinent of the remote geologic past that rifted apart to form the continents of today.

supercontinent

/ ˈsuːpəˌkɒntɪnənt /

noun

1. a great landmass thought to have existed in the geological past and to have split into smaller landmasses, which drifted and formed the present continents

supercontinent

1. A large continent that, according to the theory of plate tectonics, is thought to have split into smaller continents in the geologic past. The supercontinent Pangaea is believed to have formed when earlier continental landmasses came together sometime before the Permian Period, staying together until after the Triassic Period, when it broke into the smaller supercontinents Laurasia and Gondwanaland. These supercontinents are believed to have later separated into the landmasses that correspond to the current continents. Other supercontinents are hypothesized to have formed and broken apart earlier in geologic time.

Word History and Origins

Origin of supercontinent¹

First recorded in 1955–60; super- + continent

Example Sentences

Beneath the surface sits one of Australia's earliest fossil-bearing locations, a site that provides a rare look into a time when the continent was still part of a much larger supercontinent.

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Dr. Müller describes the find as "extremely rare" and says it provides more evidence of the ancient connection between Brazil and Africa during the Triassic Period -- when the world's landmasses were joined into the supercontinent Pangaea.

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To support their model, the team analyzed chemical and geological data from regions such as the Indian Ocean Seamount Province -- a chain of volcanic formations that appeared after the breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana over 100 million years ago.

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Scientists from the University of Sydney and the University of Adelaide have uncovered how the breakup of an ancient supercontinent about 1.5 billion years ago reshaped Earth's surface and set the stage for the rise of complex life.

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"This fossil, which is the oldest registered find in the Southern Hemisphere, indicates that this group of freshwater animals might have originated on the southern supercontinent of Gondwana," explains Viktor Baranov, a researcher at the Doñana Biological Station and first author of the study.

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