Earth in the Ordovician Period
The Earth was formed some 4.6 billion years ago and has been evolving, like a living creature, ever since its birth. This is what the planet looked like some 500 million years ago. Continents such as Laurasia, Laurentia and Gondwana bear no resemblance to continents as we know them today.
(Following C.R. Scotese and W.S. McKerrow)
Pangea
Sifting over hundreds of millions of years, continents eventually came together 260 million years ago to form a supercontinent known as Pangea.
Movement of continents from the Late Ordovician (about 440 billion years ago) to the Late Permian (260 million years ago).
Late Cretaceous Period
In the middle of the Jurassic period about 180 million years ago, while dinosaurs still ruled the Earth, Pangea began to break apart and the shapes of our modern continents began to appear. Here we see how the continents looked some 70 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous period.
