Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A large hypothetical continent, especially Pangaea, that is thought to have split into smaller ones in the geologic past. Also called protocontinent.
Wiktionary
- n. A very large continent that split into smaller ones in the Earth’s geologic past.
- n. Sometimes used to refer, due to their being composed of multiple continents, to one of the following modern landmasses: Afro-Eurasia and the Americas. (compare subcontinent)
Etymologies
- super- + continent (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Pangea (Greek for "all lands") is the "supercontinent" created when these two giant landmasses drifted into one another, a process that was complete by the middle of the”
“It described previously unrecognized impacts of "two large asteroids," which apparently caused the breakup of the ancient supercontinent Pangaea into different continents.”
“The geological evidence to date indicates that there have been at least three supercontinent cycles since the end of the Hadean Eon.”
“The USA has had its eyes on controlling not only Central Asia but ultimately the entire Eurasian supercontinent since WWII.”
“One hundred and ninety million years ago the Atlantic Ocean was born as the supercontinent Pangaea began to split apart.”
“But perhaps 180 million years hence it will have disappeared as the planet's ever-restless tectonic plates once more coalesce into a new supercontinent, Pangaea Ultima.”
“Tracing Australia's roots back to millions of years ago, Sir David Attenborough explains how the country was part of a supercontinent called Gondwana.”
“It is an accident of evolution: parrots first appeared on, and then dispersed across, the supercontinent of Gondwanaland before it shattered during the Mesozoic, sending South America and Australia and its parrots drifting away to their present locations.”
The Guardian: The Royal Society of London announces the 2011 Copley Medal winner
“On Sept. 10, 1994, a New South Wales naturalist named David Noble abseiled into one of the more than 500 canyons in Wollemi National Park -- some 60 miles east of the megalopolis of Sydney -- and discovered a stand of prehistoric coniferous Wollemi pines, representing the 110-million-year-old supercontinent of Gondwanaland.”
The Huffington Post: Dr. Reese Halter: Climate Change and Australia's Living Pinosaur
“The animal lived at a time when the southern supercontinent of Gondwana was breaking up into Africa, India, Australia, Madagascar and Antarctica.”
The Guardian: Fossil of 'cat-like' crocodile found in Tanzania
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘supercontinent’.
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super-, sur-
above or beyond; to a great degree; extra large; of a higher kind
superfamily, supercontinent, superstructure, superabundant, supernumerary, superfluous, superfine, surprise, supercilious, supersonic, surrender, supercede and 33 more...
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