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Pangea, Pangaea
Former Earth supercontinent consisting of all of the land masses. It existed during the Permian and Triassic periods, and began breaking up during the Jurassic, forming Gondwanaland and Laurasia. The single landmass resulted in an arid climate, and the absence of geographical barriers meant a ubiquitous terrestrial fauna. But climatic factors resulted in two or three distinct phytogeographic provinces, the Dicrodium Flora in the south and a Laurasian Flora in the north. The term Pangea is also applied to any similar planetary supercontinent on a tectonically active Gaian world.
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Development Notes
Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Initially published on 19 December 2001.
Initially published on 19 December 2001.
