The continents as we know them today were not always this shape. In fact, the seven current continents were once grouped into a single supercontinent called Pangea. But before it, other supercontinents formed and disappeared over the eons: Pannotia, Rodinia, Columbia/Nuna, Kenorland or, Ur, up to this first and hypothetical supercontinent named Vaalbara, whose formation dates back to around 3,8 to 3,6 billion years.
Tectonic plates are constantly moving, and in millions of years, the current arrangement of the continents will change again, even though we won't be around to see it. Scientists estimate that the next supercontinent, called amasia, should emerge in about 200 to 300 million years, probably when the Pacific Ocean has disappeared.
Our planet is constantly evolving, and our natural curiosity drives us to want to understand not only what will come in the future, but also what existed. before in the places we inhabit today. And this is precisely what The Dinosaur Database offers through Ancient Earth, its interactive globe that presents the evolution of the Earth era after era.
Ancient Earth: What the Earth looked like 750, 500, 300… or 20 million years ago.
There is 750 million years, Earth was a very different world than the one we know today. At that time, the planet was going through a geological period called the Cryogenic, a time of extreme glaciation. It is possible that the Earth was in a "snowball Earth" state, where much of the planet, perhaps even the tropics, was covered in ice. The oceans were frozen miles thick, and global temperatures were much lower than today.
Tectonically, the continents were grouped into a supercontinent called Rodinia. This supercontinent was huge, combining almost all of Earth's landmasses into one block. Rodinia was not shaped like Pangea, which formed hundreds of millions of years later. It was positioned differently on the globe surface and began to fragment, initiating a period of continental drift that would gradually shape the face of the Earth.
And that's exactly what the interactive globe Ancient Earth allows us to see. This rather incredible interactive tool allows us to visualize the evolution of continents in 3D, at various dates dating back as far as 750 million years.
The advantage of Ancient Earth is that it doesn't need much explanation of how it works, because its dynamics are very similar to Google Maps and Google EarthA drop-down list allows you to select the time period in which you view the Earth with over 25 possible eras symbolizing major periods of continental drift.
You can spin the globe around to see the shape of the continents from every angle, or type a city name in the top-left box to see where it was at the time. A red flag will show you where it is on the globe.
When trying with the city of Paris, the observation is clear, 470 million years ago Parisians would have been completely underwater. We have to wait until -66 or -50 million years to start having continents that start to look like what we know today…
In short, Ancient Earth is a nice tool to try to discover and understand the evolution of the blue planet and to see to what extent the image we have of it today is far from representing the Earth throughout its history.
