Continental Drift for Kids | Pangea |

Do you think our world has always looked the same? Right now North America is moving 2.5 cm away from Europe every year. In a million-year North America will move 25 KM away from Europe. In 100 million years, it will move up to 2500 Km away.
1. The world has never looked the same. The continents are actually drifting away from each other, very slowly. Our earth’s surface is made up of giant slabs called tectonic plates which are splitting apart due to the push and pull by the currents in the mantle and the heat coming from the interior of the earth below. This is called continent drift. Over many million years they have broken and come together. If you look at them closely, they fit into each other like a jigsaw puzzle.
2. There had been many studies and research based on which it is suggested that around 230 million years ago, all the continents were joined like a giant land mass. Scientist called this supercontinent Pangea which means all earth. Abraham Ortelius was the first geographer who proposed this phenomenon in 1596. The theory was independently developed in 1912 by Alfred Wegener. Pangea was where the dinosaurs spend most of the Triassic period.
3. The supercontinent or Pangea was surrounded by single waterbody, a giant ocean called Panthalassa. It covered 2/3 of the Earth.
4. About 200 million years ago, Pangaea began to split. Volcanoes erupted and the tec-tonic plates started to pull apart. The supercontinent split into two new continents. These were called Laurasia in the north and Gondwanaland in the south.
5. Between Laurasia and Gondwanaland, a new waterbody emerged . This was called Tethys Ocean. Just as the dinosaurs ruled the land, giant reptiles Plesiosaurs ruled the sea.
6. By 100 Million years ago, the continents split further and broke into fragments to make new land masses. The oceans were will filled with many tiny islands.
7. By 50 million years ago , when the dinosaurs were gone, a new ocean called Atlantic Ocean opened between North America and Europe. In the south, India drifted apart from Africa and headed towards north to join Asia.
8. Continents are still moving. North America is drifting away from Europe, Africa is rotating clockwise, pushing the Mediterranean Sea towards Europe. Australia is moving north towards China.
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