What's going on here?
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India has collided with Eurasia, raising the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau.
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Although remaining an active convergent boundary, western North America is relatively tectonically quiet during this time.
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Find Baltica. By 458 million years ago, a subduction zone formed near the edge of Laurentia (North America's core). Baltica, made up of Scandinavia and part of the former USSR, was gradually being rafted along on the subducting plate toward North America.
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New England was still far to the south, attached to what eventually becomes England. Now, I ask you, why is one "New England" and the other just plain "England"?
Reconstructing ancient Earth
These remarkable figures are produced by C.R. Scotese and
the PALEOMAP project. Geologists
call these illustrations paleogeographic reconstructions,
because they illustrate the reconstructed geography of our Earth
at some time in the past.
Making a paleogeographic reconstruction begins by examining
several lines of evidence including: paleomagnetism, magnetic anomalies, paleobiogeography, paleoclimatology,
and geologic history. By combining all available evidence,
geologists are able to construct paleogeographic maps, such
as these, that interpret
how the geography might have appeared at a specific location
and time in the past. Paleogeographic maps are continually
being refined as more
evidence is collected.
To find out more about how paleogeographic reconstructions
are made visit the PALEOMAP project site.
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Move forward or back in time.
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Time in millions of years. Jump back to visit any time!
Scotese, C. R., 1997. Paleogeographic Atlas, PALEOMAP Progress Report 90-0497, Department of Geology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas, 37 pp.
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