This is the first draft of a new animation that illustrates plate motions from 500 Ma (late Cambrian) back to 1.5 billion years (1500 Ma). The motion of the plates is based on paleomagnetic, geologic and tectonic information. The paleomagnetic data was compiled and edited by Reece Elling from the Paleomagia database of paleomagnetic data.
I will be presenting this animation, complete with active plate boundaries, at a meeting in London this Fall.
Robinson Projection, centered at 60W. The final version will have time moving in the right direction.
Highlights:
1500 - 1300 Ma - Continents loiter about
1200 Ma - Collision of Grenvillia (Laurentia & Mawson cratons), Dharayner (Dharwar & Rayner blocks), with continent "X" (unnamed) to form Precambrian Pangea "Terra Borealis"
(the Great Northern Continent).
1150 Ma - collision of Amazonia with Grenvillia
1150 Ma - Siberia-Baltica and Congo - Kalahari breakaway leaving proto-Rodinia behind.
1000 - 900 Ma Siberia, then Baltica collide with Laurentia.
800 Ma - Kalhari block collides with Rodinia; Hijaz arcs collide with Arabia-Aravali blocks.
750 Ma - Collision of Congo craton triggers breakup of Rodinia (into northern and southern halves).
600 Ma - Northern Rodina and Southern Rodinia collide with the Congo craton (Pan African Event) forming "Pannotia" or "great" Gondwana.
580 Ma - "greater" Gondwana breaks apart forming early Paleozoic oceans.
