History of Gondwana

Gondwana forming was a key piece to Pangea and how Earth’s continents are placed and shaped now.  Gondwana also affected how Earth’s continents and landmasses will be shaped in the future.  Gondwana’s final formation finished around 500 mya (million years ago).   Gondwana was also a full half of the supercontinent known as Pangea.

Pangea was made up of two supercontinents: Gondwana and Laurasia.  The land that was Laurasia had developed over time and is now called Europe, Asian and North America.  By the time of Gondwana’s break-up, it is now well into the Jurassic period and there are massive forests everywhere.  Gondwana had scraped against so many landmasses that it created Africa, South America, Antarctica, and Australia and other small landmasses. 

The theory behind Gondwana’s split is still somewhat unclear.  Some theories of Gondwana splitting include magma rising extremely close to the surface, which split up the land and caused continents to drift off.  The believed theory at the moment though is that Gondwana drifted over two tectonic plates which when they shifted, broke apart the continent.

In a recent study, scientists revealed the past positions of the Indian, Antarctic, and Australian tectonic plates.  These plates relate to Gondwana because they are what made Gondwana form.  Although scientists figured this out, they are still confused and wondering about how the tectonic plates evolved and formed.  Studies have shown that some of the tectonic plates should have been in different places than they were when they have drawn and mapped out the past (Tectonic plates are the scientific theory of the movement of Earth’s lithosphere, which is one of the layers of Earth right under the surface).  The Royal Holloway University’s Dr. Lloyd White said, “The Earth’s tectonic plates move through time.  As these movements occur over many millions of years, it has previously been difficult to produce accurate maps of where the continents in the past.”  What Dr. Lloyd White said means tectonic plates take an extremely long time to move a minuscule distance of two centimeters per year.  Knowing this, we can have a better understanding of the arrangement of tectonic plates in the past and redraw the maps of the past..

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LiveScience website: http://www.livescience.com/37285-gondwana.html

University of Royal Halloway London. (2013, July 5). Ancient jigsaw puzzle of
past supercontinent revealed. Retrieved September 24, 2014, from
ScienceDaily website: http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/g/gondwana.htm