Paleozoic Plate Tectonics

The Paleozoic era, which means ancient life, is the first era of the Phanerozoic Eon. During this time, early life forms like trilobites and early fish ruled the seas.

At the beginning of the Paleozoic era, a massive supercontinent called Rodinia dominated the Earth.

Over millions of years, Rodinia began to break apart. Its pieces drifted across the globe and collided, giving rise to new mountain ranges. This mountain-building process is called orogeny.

Orogenies happen when massive plates of Earth’s crust slowly collide, forcing the land to rise and form towering mountain ranges.

For example, the Appalachian mountains formed when a continent named Laurentia crashed into another continent, Gondwana.

Later in the Paleozoic era, the Earth’s landmass was transformed as the pieces came together to form the last great supercontinent, Pangaea.

Pangaea’s existence became key evidence for Alfred Wegener’s continental drift hypothesis, which explains how continents move over time.

As Pangaea formed, it changed the land and the oceans. At that time, most of Earth’s water gathered in a vast, single ocean called Panthalassa.