The supercontinent Columbia
The first supercontinent we can reconstruct with confidence
See it on the timeline →In depth
Columbia is reconstructed from palaeomagnetic data and from correlations between mountain belts on now-separate continents. The Svecofennian orogeny in Sweden and Finland, the Trans-Hudson in Canada and the Capricorn in Australia all form within the same interval and are read as parts of one collision system. The bedrock of Norway and Sweden, into which the fjords are carved, largely dates from this period. The supercontinent began to break up around 1.5 billion years ago — but only partly, which is one reason the billion years that followed were so conspicuously uneventful.
For children
1.8 billion years ago nearly all land was gathered into one piece again. We call it Columbia, or Nuna. The mountain ranges thrown up when the continents collided still exist in Scandinavia, Canada and Australia — worn down to low hills.
Connects to
Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org