Supercontinent

Supercontinent is a large continent that includes several or all of the existing

continents. Wegener (1912) pointed out the close match of opposite coastlines of
continents and the regional extent of the Permo-Carboniferous glaciation in the
Southern Hemisphere. DuToit (1937) was the first to propose an accurate fit for the
continents based on geological evidence. Matching of continental borders,
stratigraphic sections, and fossil assemblages are some of the earliest methods used
to reconstruct continental positions.

Today, in addition to these methods, we have polar wandering paths, seafloor

spreading directions, hotspot tracks, paleoclimatic data, and correlation of crustal
provinces.

Isotopic dating of Precambrian crustal provinces also provides strong evidence for
continental drift and of the existence of a supercontinent in the early Mesozoic. One
of the most striking examples is the continuation of the Precambrian provinces from
western Africa into eastern South America.
Supercontinent Cycle
A supercontinent cycle consists of the rifting and break up of one supercontinent,
followed by a stage of reassembly in which dispersed cratons collide to form a new
supercontinent, with most or all fragments in different configurations from the older
supercontinent (Hartnady, 1991).

The assembly process generally takes much longer than fragmentation, and often
overlaps in time with the initial phases of rifting that mark the beginning of a new
supercontinent dispersal phase.

During the Paleozoic, for example, terranes collided along the Pacific margin of
Gondwana, while rifting of terranes now found in Laurentia and Eurasia continued
along the opposite margin of Gondwana.

The supercontinent cycle provides a record of the processes that control the
formation and redistribution of continental crust throughout Earth history. Through
magmatism and orogeny associated with the supercontinent cycle, this cycle
influences both elemental and isotopic geochemical cycles, climatic distributions, and
changing environments which affect the evolution of organisms.
 Vaalbara,
Kenorland,
Ur etc./

Pangea

Frequency distribution of juvenile crustal production with time. Juvenile crust ages
are U–Pb zircon ages used in conjunction with Nd and Hf isotope data (Hossain et
al., 2007; Groves et al., 2005).
Piercing Point
A piercing point is a distinct geologic feature such as a fault or terrane that strikes at a
steep angle to a rifted continental margin, the continuation of which should be found
on the continental fragment rifted away. One of the most definitive matching tools in
reconstructing plate positions in a former supercontinent is a piercing point.
Vaalbara
Vaalbara is theorized to be Earth's first supercontinent, beginning its formation about
3,600 million years ago, completing its formation by about 3,100 million years ago
and breaking up by 2,500 million years ago. The name Vaalbara is derived from the
South African Kaapvaal craton and the West Australian Pilbara craton. These cratons
were combined during the time of the Vaalbara supercontinent.

Identical radiometric ages of 3,470 ± 2 million years ago have been obtained for the
ejecta from the oldest impact events in each craton. Remarkably similar structural
sequences between these two cratons have been noted for the period between 3,500
to 2,700 million years ago.

Paleomagnetic data from two ultramafic complexes in the cratons showed that at
3,870 million years the two cratons could have been part of the same supercontinent.
The reconstructed apparent polar wander path for the two cratons shows marked
similarities. Both the Pilbara and Kaapvaal cratons show extensional faults which
were active about the same time during felsic volcanism and coeval with the impact
layers.

Continental plates have periodically collided and assembled in geologic periods of

orogenesis (mountain building) to form supercontinents. The cycle of supercontinent
formation, breakup, dispersal and reformation by plate tectonics occurs every 450
million years or so.
Kenorland
Kenorland was one of the earliest supercontinents on Earth. It is believed to have
formed during the Neoarchaean Era ~2.7 billion years ago (2.7 Ga) by the accretion
of Neoarchaean cratons and the formation of new continental crust. Kenorland
comprised what later became Laurentia (the core of today's North America and
Greenland), Baltica (today's Scandinavia and Baltic), Western Australia and
Kalaharia.

Swarms of volcanic dikes and their paleomagnetic orientation as well as the existence
of similar stratigraphic sequences permit this reconstruction. The core of Kenorland,
the Baltic/Fennoscandian Shield, traces its origins back to over 3.1 Ga. The Yilgarn
Craton (present-day Western Australia) contains zircon crystals in its crust that date
back to 4.4 Ga.
Columbia
Columbia, also known as Nuna and Hudsonland, was one of Earth's ancient
supercontinents. It was first proposed by J.J.W. Rogers and M. Santosh (2002) and
is thought to have existed approximately 1.8 to 1.5 billion years (Ga) ago in the
Paleoproterozoic Era. Zhao et al. (2002) proposed that the assembly of the
supercontinent Columbia (Nuna) was completed by global-scale collisional events
during 2.1–1.8 Ga. It consisted of the proto-cratons that made up the former
continents of Laurentia, Baltica, Ukrainian Shield, Amazonian Shield, Australia, and
possibly Siberia, North China, and Kalaharia as well. The evidence of Columbia's
existence is based upon geological and paleomagnetic data.

Bangladesh is a part of Columbia supercontinent.

Reconstruction of Pangea, a
supercontinent which formed 450-320
Ma and fragmented about 160 Ma.
Also shown are major orogens formed
during collision of constituent
continents and known occurrences of
juvenile crust. Juvenile crust is crust
extracted from the mantle as the
supercontinent formed.
Reconstruction of Gondwana, a
supercontinent which formed 750-550
Ma and became part of Pangea in the
late Paleozoic.
Reconstruction of Rodinia, a
supercontinent which formed 1.3-
1.0 Ga and fragmented at 750-
600 Ma. Modified after Hoffman
(1991).
Hotspot
The hotspot model (Wilson, 1963), which suggests that linear volcanic chains and
ridges on the sea floor form as oceanic crust moves over relatively stationary
magma sources, has been widely accepted in the geological community.

Hotspots are generally thought to form in response to mantle plumes, which rise
like salt domes in sediments, through the mantle to the base of the lithosphere
(Duncan and Richards, 1991). Partial melting of plumes in the upper mantle leads
to large volumes of magma, which are partly erupted (or intruded) at the Earth's
surface. Hotspots may also be important in the break up of supercontinents.
Hotspots are characterized by the following features:
1 In ocean basins, hotspots form topographic highs of 500-1200 m with typical widths
of 1000-1500 km. These highs are probably indirect manifestations of ascending
mantle plumes.
2 Many hotspots are capped by active or recently active volcanoes. Examples are
Hawaii and Yellowstone! Park in the western United States.
3 Most oceanic hotspots are characterized by gravity highs reflecting the rise of more
dense mantle material from the mantle. Some, however, have gravity lows.
4 One or two aseismic ridges of mostly extinct volcanic chains lead away from many
oceanic hotspots. Similarly, in continental areas, the age of magmatism and
deformation may increase with distance from a hotspot. These features are known as
hotspot tracks.
5 Most hotspots have high heat flow, probably reflecting a mantle plume at depth.

Somewhere between forty and 150 active hotspots have been described on the Earth.

Hotspot tracks
Chains of seamounts and volcanic islands are common in the Pacific basin, and
include such well-known island chains as the Hawaiian-Emperor, Society, and Austral
islands, all of which are subparallel to either the Emperor or Hawaiian chains and
approximately perpendicular to the axis of the East Pacific rise.
Figure: Map of the Hawaiian-
Emperor volcanic chain showing
locations and ages of last
volcanism. The Hawaiian hotspot
today is centred just south of the
island of Hawaii. Modified after
Molnar and Stock (1987).