Pangaea, Pangæa or Pangea from Pan meaning entire, and Gaea, meaning Earth in Ancient Greek) 
was the super-continent that existed during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras about 250 million years ago, before the component continents were separated into their current configuration.
The name was first used by the German originator of the continental drift theory, Alfred Wegener, in the 1920 edition of his book The Origin of Continents and Oceans, in which a postulated super-continent Pangaea played a key role.
Paleogeographic reconstructions show Pangaea as a roughly C-shaped landmass that was spread across the equator. The body of water that was enclosed within the resulting crescent has been named the Tethys Sea. Owing to Pangaea's massive size, the inland regions appear to have been very dry. The large super-continent would potentially have allowed terrestrial animals to migrate freely.
The vast ocean that surrounded the super-continent of Pangaea has been named Panthalassa, which
means "all seas". The break-up of Pangaea began about 180 million years ago in the Jurassic Period, first into two super-continents (Gondwana to the south and Laurasia to the north), thereafter into the continents we have today.
Fossil evidence for Pangaea includes the presence of similar and identical species on continents that are now great distances apart. For example, fossils of the therapsid Lystrosaurus have been found in Gandu, South Africa, India and Australia, alongside members of the Glossopteris flora, whose distribution would have ranged from the polar circle to the equator if the continents had been in their present position; similarly, the freshwater reptile Mesosaurus has only been found in localized regions of the coasts of Brazil and West-Africa.
Additional evidence for Pangaea is found in the geology of adjacent continents, including matching geological trends between the eastern coast of South America and the western coast of Africa.
The polar ice cap of the Carboniferous Period covered the southern end of Pangaea. Glacial deposits, specifically till, of the same age and structure are found on many separate continents which would have been together in the continent of Pangaea.
was the super-continent that existed during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras about 250 million years ago, before the component continents were separated into their current configuration.The name was first used by the German originator of the continental drift theory, Alfred Wegener, in the 1920 edition of his book The Origin of Continents and Oceans, in which a postulated super-continent Pangaea played a key role.
Paleogeographic reconstructions show Pangaea as a roughly C-shaped landmass that was spread across the equator. The body of water that was enclosed within the resulting crescent has been named the Tethys Sea. Owing to Pangaea's massive size, the inland regions appear to have been very dry. The large super-continent would potentially have allowed terrestrial animals to migrate freely.
The vast ocean that surrounded the super-continent of Pangaea has been named Panthalassa, which
means "all seas". The break-up of Pangaea began about 180 million years ago in the Jurassic Period, first into two super-continents (Gondwana to the south and Laurasia to the north), thereafter into the continents we have today.Fossil evidence for Pangaea includes the presence of similar and identical species on continents that are now great distances apart. For example, fossils of the therapsid Lystrosaurus have been found in Gandu, South Africa, India and Australia, alongside members of the Glossopteris flora, whose distribution would have ranged from the polar circle to the equator if the continents had been in their present position; similarly, the freshwater reptile Mesosaurus has only been found in localized regions of the coasts of Brazil and West-Africa.
Additional evidence for Pangaea is found in the geology of adjacent continents, including matching geological trends between the eastern coast of South America and the western coast of Africa.
The polar ice cap of the Carboniferous Period covered the southern end of Pangaea. Glacial deposits, specifically till, of the same age and structure are found on many separate continents which would have been together in the continent of Pangaea.
