The Shifting Continents: A Journey Through Time

Have you ever wondered how the land we live on came to be? Our continents weren’t always where they are now. Today’s continents (Africa, Asia, Australasia, Antarctica, Europe, North America & South America) have existed for a tiny fraction Earth’s history.

Over millions of years, the continents have been moving and changing shape. Let’s take a journey through the Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic Eras to see how the continents shifted and how it affected the animals living on them!

The Paleozoic Era: The Beginning of Change

Cambrian Period (541 to 485 million years ago)

  • Supercontinent Rodinia: At the start of the Paleozoic Era, the continents were joined together in a supercontinent called Rodinia.
  • Oceans and Life: Rodinia began to break apart, creating more coastlines and shallow seas where early life thrived.

Ordovician and Silurian Periods (485 to 419 million years ago)

  • Gondwana Forms: The southern continents came together to form Gondwana. Life flourished in the seas, with the first fish and coral reefs appearing.

Devonian Period (419 to 359 million years ago)

  • Laurasia Appears: The northern continents joined to form Laurasia. Plants and animals began to move onto land.

Carboniferous and Permian Periods (359 to 252 million years ago)

  • Pangaea: All the continents came together to form the supercontinent Pangaea. Massive forests covered the land, and early reptiles appeared.

The Mesozoic Era: The Age of Dinosaurs

Triassic Period (252 to 201 million years ago)

  • Pangaea Breaks Up: Pangaea started to split into two large continents: Laurasia in the north and Gondwana in the south.
  • First Dinosaurs: Early dinosaurs began to roam the land.

Jurassic Period (201 to 145 million years ago)

  • More Splitting: Laurasia and Gondwana continued to break apart into smaller continents.
  • Dinosaur Diversity: With new habitats forming, dinosaurs became more diverse and spread all over the world.

Cretaceous Period (145 to 66 million years ago)

  • Continents Drift Further: The continents moved closer to the positions we recognize today.
  • Flowering Plants and Birds: New types of plants and the first birds appeared, adding more variety to life on Earth.

The Cenozoic Era: The Age of Mammals

Paleogene Period (66 to 23 million years ago)

  • Continents Continue Moving: The continents kept drifting to their current locations.
  • Rise of Mammals: With dinosaurs gone, mammals grew larger and more varied.

Neogene Period (23 to 2.6 million years ago)

  • Mountain Formation: The continents’ movements created new mountain ranges, like the Himalayas.
  • Early Humans: The first ancestors of humans appeared.

Quaternary Period (2.6 million years ago to present)

  • Ice Ages: Large ice sheets covered parts of the continents during several Ice Ages.
  • Modern Continents: The continents settled into the positions we see on maps today.
  • Human Expansion: Humans spread across the globe, adapting to different environments.
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