The contemporary North Pangea supercontinent and the geodynamic causes of its formation |
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| Authors: | V I Kovalenko V V Yarmolyuk O A Bogatikov |
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| Institution: | 1.Institute of Geology of Ore Deposits, Petrography, Mineralogy, and Geochemistry,Russian Academy of Sciences,Moscow,Russia |
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| Abstract: | The supercontinental status of the contemporary aggregation of continents called North Pangea is substantiated. This supercontinent
comprises all continents with the probable exception of Antarctica. In addition to the spatial contiguity of continents, the
supercontinent is characterized by the prevalence of the continental crust that combines North America and Eurasia, Eurasia
and Africa, and Eurasia and Australia. Over the course of the 300–250-Ma evolution from Wegener’s Pangea to contemporary North
Pangea, the aggregation of continents has not lost its supercontinental status, despite modification of the supercontinent
shape and opening and closure of the newly formed Paleotethys, Tethys, Atlantic, and Indian oceans. Over the last 250–300
Ma, all movements of the lithospheric plates have most likely occurred within the Indo-Atlantic segment of the Earth, whereas
the Pacific segment has remained oceanic. In short, the formation of the North Pangea supercontinent can be outlined in the
following terms. The long and deep subduction of the lithospheric plates beneath Eurasia and North America gave rise to the
stabilization of the continents and accumulation of huge bodies of the cold lithosphere commensurable in volume with the upper
mantle at the deeper mantle levels. This brought about compensation ascent of hot mantle (mantle plumes) near the convergent
plate boundaries and far from them. A special geodynamic setting develops beneath the supercontinent. Due to encircling subduction
of the lithospheric plates and related squeezing of the hot mantle, an ascending flow, or plume (superplume) formed beneath
the central part of the supercontinent. In our view, the African superplume broke up Wegener’s Pangea in the Atlantic region,
caused the opening of the Atlantic and Indian oceans, and migrated to the Arctic Region 53 Ma ago. |
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