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Supercontinent

Encyclopedia of Astrobiology

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Definition

A supercontinent is a landmass comprising a large fraction of the entire continental crust. It is the product of the assembly of many smaller continents into one single continent. Supercontinents form in cycles, coming together and breaking apart about every 500 million years as a result of plate tectonic movements. Examples include Rodinia (from 1,100 to 750 Ma) and Pangea (between 300 and 200 Ma). The latter split apart between 200 and 180 Ma ago to form two smaller supercontinents, Laurasia and Gondwana. The oldest putative supercontinent is Vaalbara (3.1–2.5 Ga) which regrouped ancient Archean terranes of the Pilbara Craton (Western Australia) and the Kaapvaal Craton (South Africa).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. GEOTOP Research Center for Geochemistry and Geodynamics, Université du Québec à Montréal, CP 8888, succ. Centre-Ville, H3C 3P8, Montréal, QC, Canada

    Daniele L. Pinti

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  1. Daniele L. Pinti
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Correspondence to Daniele L. Pinti .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Biología Molecular, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Ricardo Amils

  2. Labo. d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux (LAB), Observatoire Aquitain des Sciences de l'Univers (OASU), Floirac CX, France

    Muriel Gargaud

  3. Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), Inst. Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial, Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid, Spain

    José Cernicharo Quintanilla

  4. Geophysical Lab., Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

    Henderson James Cleaves

  5. Astronomy Department, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA

    William M. Irvine

  6. Dépt. Sc. de la Terre et de l’Atmosphère, Université du Québec, Montréal, Montreal, Québec, Canada

    Daniele Pinti

  7. Centre National d'Etudes Spatiale (CNES) DPI/E2U, Paris CX, France

    Michel Viso

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© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Pinti, D.L. (2014). Supercontinent. In: Amils, R., et al. Encyclopedia of Astrobiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_1764-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_1764-3

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27833-4

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Supercontinent
    Published:
    10 December 2021

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_1764-4

  2. Original

    Supercontinent
    Published:
    18 April 2015

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_1764-3

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