- 1. Amalgamation and Breakup of Pangea in the Americas.
Cosponsored by IGCP 597 (Origin and Evolution of Pangea) and
IGCP 574 (Bending and Bent Orogens, Continental Ribbons). -
Brendan Murphy, St. Francis Xavier University Jarda Dostal,
Saint Mary’s University Damian Nance, University of Ohio There
is widespread acceptance that between 300 and 200 million years
ago, all of the Earth’s continental land masses were assembled
into a giant supercontinent, Pangaea, surrounded by a
superocean, Panthalassa. However, different configurations have
been proposed, e.g. Pangaea A and B with potential solutions in
Mexico. The breakup of Pangaea over the last 200 million years
resulted in the formation of new oceans (such as the Atlantic,
Indian and Southern) between the dispersing continental
fragments. We will focus on the evolution of two types of
Palaeozoic oceans whose contrasting fates were pivotal in the
development of Pangaea; (a) interior oceans, such as the Rheic
and Iapetus oceans which were located between con