Geology
The Atlantic opens
Pangaea rifts apart and a new ocean is born
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Rifting began with the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province, an eruption so vast it probably triggered the end-Triassic mass extinction. As sea floor spread from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the continents separated and the climate changed fundamentally: new ocean currents, new wind systems and new barriers for species. That isolation is the main reason Australia, South America and Africa developed such different faunas.
For children
Pangaea began to crack apart. A long rift opened between what would become the Americas and Africa, and seawater poured in. That crack is still widening — the Atlantic grows a few centimetres every year.
Connects to
Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org