Pangea

It is very interesting how the continents look like a broken up puzzle. At one point in time they actually were pieced together. This super continent is known as Pangea. The word Pangea means "all lands" in Greek. But, over time the continents appear to move. Plate Tectonics caused this really dramatic change.This change may seem great over time but, day to day it is almost unnoticeable. In a year it will move 5 centimeter on average. Never the less Plate Tectonics are constantly moving and recycling rocks and land within the earth. Plate Tectonics are 100 to 120 kilometers thick and lay in the crust and upper mantle.  It took these plates 200 million years to move to where they are today from when they formed Pangea. One question you might be asking your self is how these gigantic plates move and why? The Mantle underneath the Earth crust pulls the plate tectonics with the convection currents it produces. Basically the mantle is rising with heat and falling when it release energy. This Energy and motion is pulling the plates along. This is what made Pangea change to what is is today. Although this is the accepted theory we still have much to learn about the earth and it's movement.
http://www.divediscover.whoi.edu/tectonics/boundaries.html
http://library.thinkquest.org/17701/high/pangaea/
http://http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/interior/plate_tectonics.html
www.nature.nps.gov/geology/usgsnps/animate/pltecan.html



Go to this website to see pangea like never before!!!!
http://www.scotese.com/sfsanim.htm