The Pangea conundrum

Research Article| September 01, 2008 The Pangea conundrum J. Brendan Murphy; J. Brendan Murphy 11Department of Earth Sciences, St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia B2G 2W5, Canada Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar R. Damian Nance R. Damian Nance 22Department of Geological Sciences, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio 45701, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information J. Brendan Murphy 11Department of Earth Sciences, St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia B2G 2W5, Canada R. Damian Nance 22Department of Geological Sciences, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio 45701, USA Publisher: Geological Society of America Received: 18 Mar 2008 Revision Received: 16 May 2008 Accepted: 20 May 2008 First Online: 02 Mar 2017 Online ISSN: 1943-2682 Print ISSN: 0091-7613 © 2008 Geological Society of America Geology (2008) 36 (9): 703–706. https://doi.org/10.1130/G24966A.1 Article history Received: 18 Mar 2008 Revision Received: 16 May 2008 Accepted: 20 May 2008 First Online: 02 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Permissions Search Site Citation J. Brendan Murphy, R. Damian Nance; The Pangea conundrum. Geology 2008;; 36 (9): 703–706. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/G24966A.1 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGeology Search Advanced Search Abstract Geodynamic models for supercontinent assembly, whereby the dispersing continental fragments of a supercontinent break up and migrate from geoid highs to reassemble at geoid lows, fail to account for the amalgamation of Pangea. Such models would predict that the oceans created by continental breakup in the early Paleozoic (e.g., Iapetus, Rheic) would have continued to expand as the continents migrated toward sites of mantle downwelling in the paleo-Pacific, reassembling an extroverted supercontinent as this ocean closed. Instead, Pangea assembled as a result of the closure of the younger Iapetus and Rheic Oceans. Geodynamic linkages between these three oceans preserved in the rock record suggest that the reversal in continental motion may have coincided with the Ordovician emergence of a super-plume that produced a geoid high in the paleo-Pacific. If so, the top-down geodynamics used to account for the breakup and dispersal of a supercontinent at ca. 600–540 Ma may have been overpowered by bottom-up geodynamics during the amalgamation of Pangea. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.