Information about Laurasia

Laurasia (IPA: /lɔˈreɪʃiə, lɔˈreɪʃiʒə/^[1]) was a supercontinent that most recently existed as a part of the split of the Pangaean supercontinent in the late Mesozoic era. It included most of the landmasses which make up today's continents of the northern hemisphere, chiefly Laurentia (most of modern North America), Baltica, Siberia, Kazakhstania, and the North China and East China cratons.

Origin

Although Laurasia is known as a Mesozoic phenomenon, today it is believed that the same continents that formed the later Laurasia also existed as a coherent supercontinent after the breakup of Rodinia around 1 billion years ago. To avoid confusion with the Mesozoic continent, this is referred to as Proto-Laurasia. It is believed that Laurasia did not break up again before it recombined with the southern continents to form the late Precambrian supercontinent of Pannotia, which remained until the early Cambrian.

Break Up and Reformation

During the Cambrian, Laurasia was largely located in equatorial latitudes and began to break up, with North China and Siberia drifting into latitudes further north than those occupied by continents during the previous 500 million years. By the Devonian, North China was located near the Arctic Circle and it remained the northernmost land in the world during the Carboniferous Ice Age between 300 and 280 million years ago. There is no evidence, though, for any large scale Carbonifeous glaciation of the northern continents. This cold period saw the re-joining of Laurentia and Baltica with the formation of the Appalachian Mountains and the vast coal deposits which are today a mainstay of the economy of such regions as West Virginia and parts of the British Isles and Germany.

Siberia moved southwards and joined with Kazakhstania, a small continental region believed today to have been created during the Silurian by extensive volcanism. When these two continents joined together, Laurasia was nearly reformed, and by the beginning of the Triassic, the East China craton had rejoined the redeveloping Laurasia as it collided with Gondwana to form Pangaea. North China became, as it drifted southwards from near-Arctic latitudes, the last continent to join with Pangaea.

Final split

Around 200 million years ago, Pangaea started to break-up. Between eastern North America and northwest Africa, a new ocean formed - the Atlantic Ocean, even though Greenland (attached to North America) and Europe were still joined together. The separation of Europe and Greenland occurred around 60 million years ago (in the Paleocene). Laurasia finally divided into the continents after which it is named: Laurentia (now North America) and Eurasia (excluding India and Arabia). Most of the cratons that made up Laurasia, as can be seen, remain attached to it today, though rifting still occurs today in the region of Lake Baikal in Siberia.

References

1. ^ OED

This chart shows concisely the most common way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is applied to represent the English language.

See International Phonetic Alphabet for English for a more complete version and Pronunciation respelling for English for phonetic
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In geology, a supercontinent is a land mass comprising more than one continental core, or craton. The assembly of cratons and accreted terranes that form Eurasia^[1] qualifies as a supercontinent today.
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Pangaea or Pangæa (IPA: /pænˈdʒiːə/^[1], from παν, pan, meaning entire, and γαια, gaia, meaning Earth
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The Mesozoic Era is one of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic eon. The division of time into eras dates back to Giovanni Arduino, in the 18th century, although his original name for the era now called the 'Mesozoic' was 'Secondary' (making the modern era the 'Tertiary').
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A geologic era is a subdivision of geologic time that divides an Eon into smaller buckets. The Phanerozoic Eon is divided into three such timeframes: the Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic represent the major stages in the macroscopic fossil record.
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Northern Hemisphere or northern hemisphere^[1] is the half of a planet that is north of the equator—the word hemisphere literally means 'half ball'. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator.
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Laurentia (also known as the North American craton), like all craton land, was created as continents moved about the surface of the Earth, bumping into other continents and drifting away.
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Baltica is a Late Proterozoic-Early Palaeozoic continent that now includes the East European craton of northwestern Eurasia. Baltica was created as an entity not earlier than 1.8 Ga.
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Siberia is the craton located in the heart of the region of Siberia. Siberia or "Angaraland" (or simply Angara) is today the Central Siberian Plateau. It is an extremely ancient craton that formed an independent continent before the Permian

Partial

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Kazakhstania, also known as the Kazakhstan Block, is a small continental region in the interior of Asia. It consists of that area north and east of the Aral Sea, south of the Siberian craton and west of the Altai Mountains and Lake Balkhash.
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The North China craton is one of the oldest cratonic blocks in the world. It covers an area of ~1.7 million km² across most of northern China, the southern part of northeastern China, Inner Mongolia, the Bohai Bay and the northern part of the Yellow Sea.
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A craton (Greek kratos; "strength") is an old and stable part of the continental crust that has survived the merging and splitting of continents and supercontinents for at least 500 million years. Some are over 2 billion years old.
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Rodinia (from the Russian родина, or "motherland") refers to one of the oldest known supercontinents, which contained most or all of Earth's then-current landmass.
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Proto-Laurasia ("first Laurasia") was an ancient supercontinent. It has been part of two major supercontinents - Rodinia, and Pannotia. In Rodinia, South China, Baltica, and Siberia were connected to Laurentia (North America) on the eastern side of the craton.
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Pannotia, first described by Ian W. D. Dalziel in 1997, is a hypothetical supercontinent that existed from the Pan-African orogeny about 600 million years ago to the end of the Precambrian about 540 million years ago. It is also known as the Vendian supercontinent.
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The Cambrian is a major division of the geologic timescale that begins about 542 ± 1.0 Ma (million years ago) at the end of the Proterozoic eon and ended about 488.3 ± 1.7 Ma with the beginning of the Ordovician period (ICS, 2004).
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Devonian is a geologic period of the Paleozoic era spanning from roughly 416 to 359 million years ago. It is named after Devon, England, where rocks from this period were first studied.
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Arctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. It is the parallel of latitude that (as of 2000) runs 66° 33′ 39″ (or 66.56083°) north of the Equator.
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The Carboniferous is a major division of the geologic timescale that extends from the end of the Devonian period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Ma (million years ago), to the beginning of the Permian period, about 299.0 ± 0.8 Ma (ICS 2004).
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ice age is a period of long-term reduction in the temperature of Earth's climate, resulting in an expansion of the continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and mountain glaciers.
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glacier is a large, slow moving river of ice, formed from compacted layers of snow, that slowly deforms and flows in response to gravity. Glacier ice is the largest reservoir of fresh water on Earth, and second only to oceans as the largest reservoir of total water.
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The Appalachian Mountains

Appalachians in North Carolina

Countries | United States,Canada
Regions |
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Coal (IPA: /ˈkəʊl/) is a fossil fuel formed in swamp ecosystems where plant remains were saved by water and mud from oxidization and biodegradation.
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State of West Virginia

Flag of West Virginia Seal
Nickname(s): Mountain State
Motto(s): Montani semper liberi

Official language(s) English

Capital Charleston
Largest city
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British Isles<nowiki />

The British Isles in relation to mainland Europe

Geography <nowiki/>
Location Western Europe <nowiki /> <nowiki />
Total islands 6,000+<nowiki />

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Anthem
"Das Lied der Deutschen" (third stanza)
also called "Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit"
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The Triassic is a geologic period that extends from about 251 to 199 Ma (million years ago). As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic. Both the start and end of the Triassic are marked by major extinction events.
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Laurasia

Origin

Break Up and Reformation

Final split

See also

References

Partial

Partial