Pangaea

Pangaea (from the Greek for, "all lands") is the name Alfred Wegener used to refer to the supercontinent which existed during the Mesozoic period, before the process of plate tectonics separated the component continents. Pangaea broke up about 200 million years ago. When the continents first came together to form Pangaea, mountains were formed; some of these ranges still exist; such as the Appalachians and the Urals. The vast ocean surrounding Pangaea was Panthalassa.

The mantle under its former location is still hot and trying to rise upward. As a result, Africa sits several tens of meters higher than the other continents.

Pangaea broke into two parts:

• Gondwana
• Laurasia