Re: Pangaea

[Derek Tearne <derek@nezsdc.fujitsu.co.nz>]

> 
> >I have always had a problem with the concept of Pangaea. (is that
> >spelled right?)  I didn't want to through this out without some
> >careful forethought, so here it is after several days of revising.

Good idea.  A lot of people have spent a lot of time developing the 
concept of plate tectonics, it would be unfair to write it off after 
only a fe wdays thought.
> 
> >>1) The concept of making "puzzle pieces" out of today's continents
> >and fitting them into a picture of the original continent seems,
> >well, childish.  

Making 'puzzle pieces' may seem childish this was one of the obvious 
clues which lead to the 'continental drift' theories.  As others have 
pointed out the matching is on continental shelf boundaries.

> >3) What is the theory for the creation of Pangaea?  What would
> >cause a planet to form with all its higher land mass to form on
> >one side?  Was it on the side or was it formed at one of the poles?
> >Is a planet stable with this deformity?  Is that the reasoning
> >for the breakup of Pangaea?  These are questions I have never
> >seen discussed when I have read about Pangaea.
> 
> Most evidence suggests that the Earth goes through cycles of continental
> accretion and continental break-up.  The Permo-Triassic Pangaea was the
> most recent accretion, when the mid-Panthalassa ridge (basically equivalent
> to the mid-Pacific ridge) was dominant, pushing the various paleocontinents
> together to this side of the world. 

Exactly.  If one thinks about it this is inevitable.  With various plates 
and microplates moving in different directions they will eventually bump 
into each other.

> My best advice to you is:
> 
> 1) Find an introductory textbook on physical, historical, or structural
> geology.  These would be able to answer your questions much better than a
> couple of paragraphs on the net.

Good advice indeed.

--- Derek

---
Derek Tearne.                                           derek@fujitsu.co.nz
Some of the more environmentally aware dinosaurs were worried about the
consequences of an accident with the new Iridium enriched fusion reactor.
"If it goes off only the cockroaches and mammals will survive..." they said.