Curious About Pangaea

PODCAST 257: CURIOUS ABOUT PANGAEA

RELEASE DATE: SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 3RD, 2023

D:  HELLO, AND WELCOME BACK TO THE CURIOUS KID PODCAST.  I LOVE LEARNING ABOUT HISTORY, AND WE’VE DONE LOTS OF EPISODES THAT TAKE A LOOK BACK TO THE PAST, LIKE THE EPISODES ON THE TITANIC, DINOSAURS, AND MEGALODONS.  DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE TITANIC, DINOSAURS, AND MEGALODONS HAVE IN COMMON?  THEY WERE ALL PRETTY BIG.  GUESS WHAT?  THIS WEEK, WE ARE GOING TO TAKE THE TIME MACHINE WAY WAY BACK TO HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF YEARS AGO TO LEARN ABOUT SOMETHING EVEN BIGGER THAN THE TITANIC, DINOSAURS, AND MEGALODONS.  LET’S DO THIS.

O:  DOUBLE-MAILBAG!

D:  DOUBLE-MAILBAG!

“HI JACOB AND OLIVIA!  MY NAME IS PEYTON AND I’M A VERY CURIOUS 7 YEAR OLD FROM HONOLULU, HAWAII.  THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THE FANTASTIC EPISODES!  OUR FAMILY REALLY ENJOYS LISTENING TO YOUR PODCAST IN THE CAR ON THE WAY TO SCHOOL.  WE LOVE THAT THERE’S TOPICS FOR ALL OF US TO ENJOY, INCLUDING MY BROTHERS BRAYDEN AND GRAYSON, AND MY SISTER KYLA.  AT THE MOMENT, I’M REALLY CURIOUS ABOUT PANGAEA AND ICEBERGS, AND I’D BE SUPER EXCITED IF YOU WERE ABLE TO DO AN EPISODE ON EITHER.  THANKS AGAIN FOR CREATING SUCH A FUN AND EDUCATIONAL PODCAST!  KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!”

“HI JACOB AND OLIVIA!  OUR NAMES ARE MILES (8) AND JOEL (5), AND WE ARE BROTHERS FROM MCKINNEY, TEXAS.  WE ARE SO HAPPY WE FOUND YOUR PODCAST WHILE ROADTRIPPING THIS SUMMER.  WE’VE LOVED YOUR EPISODES ON SPACE AND THE EARTH, AND WOULD LOVE TO GET MORE CURIOUS ABOUT GALAXIES AND PANGAEA.  THANKS FOR ALL YOU DO!

MILES AND JOEL”

O:  THOSE WERE A COUPLE OF FANTASTIC EMAILS.  WE ARE PUMPED TO GET CURIOUS ABOUT PANGAEA FOR PEYTON, BRAYDEN, GRAYSON, KYLA, MILES, AND JOEL.  

D:  FOR STARTERS, WE SHOULD PROBABLY EXPLAIN WHAT PANGEA IS.  TODAY, THERE ARE SEVEN CONTINENTS.  ASIA HAS THE HIGHEST POPULATION OF ANY CONTINENT.  ALMOST 60% OF THE ENTIRE WORLD POPULATION LIVES IN ASIA.  BEHIND ASIA, AFRICA HAS A POPULATION OF CLOSE TO 1.5 BILLION PEOPLE.  EUROPE, NORTH AMERICA, AND SOUTH AMERICA EACH HAVE BETWEEN 5 AND 10% OF THE TOTAL WORLD POPULATION.  THE POPULATION OF AUSTRALIA IS JUST BELOW 50 MILLION, AND THE POPULATION OF ANTARCTICA IS ZERO, AS NOBODY LIVES THERE YEAR ROUND.  

O:  ONCE UPON A TIME, A VERY LONG TIME AGO, THERE WAS ONLY ONE CONTINENT, AND THAT SUPERCONTINENT WAS CALLED PANGAEA.  

D:  WE ARE GOING TO LEARN WHAT HAPPENED TO PANGAEA, BUT LONG STORY SHORT, THE CONTINENTS ARE MOVING VERY SLOWLY OVER TIME.  

O:  THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK IS, HOW QUICKLY ARE THE LAND MASSES ON EARTH MOVING?  

D:  SO, I’M TURNING 42 YEARS OLD IN JUST A FEW DAYS AND OLIVIA’S 10TH BIRTHDAY IS JUST ABOUT A MONTH AWAY.  HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED HOW OLD OUR BEAUTIFUL PLANET OF EARTH IS?

O:  EARTH IS FOUR AND A HALF BILLION YEARS OLD… THAT’S BILLION WITH A B!  YOU MIGHT REMEMBER FROM OUR EPISODE ON EARTH THAT THE OUTER LAYER OF EARTH IS CALLED THE CRUST, JUST LIKE CRUST ON A PIZZA SLICE, BUT PROBABLY NOT AS DELICIOUS.

D:  IF YOU WERE TO TAKE A BITE INTO THE EARTH’S CRUST, THE LAYER JUST BELOW IT IS CALLED THE MANTLE.  THE MANTLE IS ESSENTIALLY A VERY THICK LAYER OF HOT AND SOLID ROCK LOCATED INSIDE THE CRUST AND OUTSIDE THE MOLTEN IRON CORE ON THE INSIDE OF EARTH.

O:  THE MANTLE IS MOVING, WHICH MEANS THAT THE CONTINENTS ARE ALSO MOVING OVER TIME.  IN THE FOUR AND A HALF BILLION YEARS OF EARTH, CONTINENTS HAVE BEEN COMING TOGETHER AND BREAKING APART.

D:  WHEN CONTINENTS COME TOGETHER, THEY FORM A SUPERCONTINENT.  THE MOST RECENT SUPERCONTINENT WAS CALLED PANGAEA, AND IT EXISTED HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF YEARS AGO.  EVIDENCE SUGGESTS THAT PANGAEA FORMED ABOUT 335 MILLION YEARS AGO AND STARTED TO BREAK APART ABOUT 175 MILLION YEARS AGO.

O:  HANG ON JUST A SECOND.  HUMANS HAVE ONLY BEEN AROUND FOR ANYWHERE FROM TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND TO THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND YEARS.  IF PANGAEA BROKE APART 175 MILLION YEARS AGO, HOW IN THE WORLD WOULD WE EVEN KNOW IT EXISTED IN THE FIRST PLACE?

D:  THAT’S A FANTASTIC QUESTION, AND THERE ARE A FEW REALLY BIG CLUES THAT TELL US THAT PANGAEA MUST HAVE EXISTED.  CLUE NUMBER ONE:  THE CONTINENTS FIT TOGETHER LIKE A PUZZLE.  GRAB A MAP OF EARTH AND TAKE A LOOK FOR YOURSELF.  TAKE A LOOK AT THE EAST COAST OF SOUTH AMERICA.  WOULDN’T IT FIT PRETTY NICELY NEXT TO THE WEST COAST OF AFRICA?  

O:  CLUE NUMBER TWO: IDENTICAL ROCKS HAVE BEEN FOUND ON DIFFERENT CONTINENTS THAT MUST’VE ORIGINALLY COME FROM THE SAME PLACE.  ONE EXAMPLE IS THAT COAL DEPOSITS FOUND IN PENNSYLVANIA MATCH THOSE FOUND IN COUNTRIES LIKE GERMANY, GREAT BRITAIN, AND POLAND, WHICH SUGGESTS THAT NORTH AMERICA AND EUROPE WERE ONCE ATTACHED.  

D:  ANOTHER CLUE IS THE LOCATION OF DINOSAUR FOSSILS.  THE MESOSAURUS, FOR EXAMPLE, HAS BEEN FOUND IN BOTH AFRICA AND SOUTH AMERICA.  THAT’S BECAUSE DINOSAURS WERE AROUND BEFORE THE CONTINENTS OF AFRICA AND SOUTH AMERICA BROKE APART FROM EACH OTHER.  

O:  MOUNTAIN RANGES THAT ARE NOW FOUND ON DIFFERENT CONTINENTS WERE THOUGHT TO HAVE BEEN PART OF THE SAME MOUNTAIN RANGE ON PANGAEA.  THE APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS IN THE UNITED STATES WERE ONCE CONNECTED TO THE ATLAS MOUNTAINS WHICH ARE FOUND IN ALGERIA, MOROCCO, AND TUNISIA.  

D:  THAT’S A LOT OF GOOD EVIDENCE THAT ALL OF THE CONTINENTS USED TO BE SMUSHED TOGETHER.  A LONG TIME AGO, BACK IN 1596, A CARTOGRAPHER BY THE NAME OF ABRAHAM ORTELIUS SUGGESTED THAT THE CONTINENTS ARE SLOWLY MOVING OVER TIME.  A CARTOGRAPHER IS SOMEONE WHO DRAWS MAPS.  THEN, THE FIRST PERSON TO SUGGEST THAT PANGAEA EXISTED WAS A GERMAN SCIENTIST BY THE NAME OF ALFRED WEGENER.  HE NOTICED THAT THE CONTINENTS COULD FIT TOGETHER LIKE PIECES TO A PUZZLE.  

O:  WHEN HE MADE THAT DISCOVERY ABOUT 100 YEARS AGO, PEOPLE DIDN’T TAKE HIM VERY SERIOUSLY.  HE EVEN PUBLISHED A BOOK IN 1915 CALLED “THE ORIGIN OF CONTINENTS AND OCEANS” TO EXPLAIN HIS THEORY.  HE ALSO CAME UP WITH THE NAME FOR THE SUPERCONTINENT, PANGAA (PAN-GAYA).

D:  “PAN” IN GREEK MEANS ENTIRE, AND “GAA” (GAYA) IN GREEK MEANS EARTH.  SOON, THE WORD FOR THE SUPERCONTINENT CHANGED FROM PANGAA (PAN-GAYA) TO PANGAEA.  NOW, ABOUT 100 YEARS AFTER ALFRED WEGENER PRESENTED THE SUPERCONTINENT THEORY, IT IS PRETTY UNIVERSALLY ACCEPTED THAT A SUPERCONTINENT MUST’VE EXISTED LONG AGO.  IN FACT, IT IS BELIEVED THAT SUPERCONTINENTS HAVE FORMED AND BROKEN UP AT LEAST THREE TIMES IN EARTH’S FOUR AND A HALF BILLION YEARS.  

O:  IS IT POSSIBLE THAT ANOTHER SUPERCONTINENT MIGHT EXIST IN THE FUTURE?

D:  ABSOLUTELY.  SCIENTISTS BELIEVE IT WILL HAPPEN, BUT WE MIGHT HAVE TO WAIT A LONG TIME… HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF YEARS TO BE EXACT.  MOST EXPERTS BELIEVE IT’S GOING TO TAKE BETWEEN 200 AND 300 MILLION YEARS FOR IT TO HAPPEN, AND IT’S GOING TO HAPPEN VERY SLOWLY.

O:  MANY OF THE MOUNTAIN RANGES THAT EXIST AROUND THE WORLD TODAY FORMED FROM CONTINENTS BREAKING APART AND CRASHING BACK TOGETHER AGAIN.  THE TERM FOR CONTINENTS MOVING AROUND IS CALLED CONTINENTAL DRIFT.

D:  THERE IS SOME EVIDENCE OF CONTINENTAL DRIFT IN THE WORLD TODAY.  IN THE COUNTRY OF KENYA, THERE IS A PORTION OF LAND THAT APPEARS TO BE RIPPING APART.  IN A PART OF KENYA, THE LAND IS LITERALLY SPLITTING IN HALF.  THE AREA HAS BEEN CALLED GREAT RIFT VALLEY.  IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THE LAND SPLITTING IN KENYA IS AN EARLY SIGN THAT WE MIGHT BE SEEING THE FORMATION OF A NEW SUPERCONTINENT?  OR IS IT POSSIBLE THAT AFRICA IS SPLITTING INTO TWO DIFFERENT CONTINENTS?

O:  NOT ONLY DID NEW CONTINENTS FORM WHEN PANGAEA BROKE APART, BUT NEW OCEANS FORMED TOO.  THINK ABOUT IT… IF THERE WAS ONLY ONE CONTINENT, THEN THAT MUST MEAN THERE WAS ONLY ONE OCEAN.  WE HAVE FIVE TODAY, BUT IN THE TIME OF PANGAEA, THERE WAS ONE MASSIVE OCEAN SURROUNDING PANGAEA.  THAT OCEAN HAS THE NAME PANTHALASSA.  SO, PANGAEA COVERED ABOUT ONE-THIRD OF THE EARTH’S SURFACE, WHILE PANTHALASSA COVERED THE OTHER TWO-THIRDS.  

D:  SCIENTISTS BELIEVE THAT THE CURRENTS OF PANTHALASSA WOULD’VE BEEN A LOT SLOWER THAN THE CURRENTS OF TODAY’S OCEANS.  THE CHANGE IN TIDES ALSO WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN SO EXTREME, AND PANTHALASSA WOULD HAVE HAD A MORE STABLE TEMPERATURE THAN OUR OCEANS TODAY.

O:  WE ALREADY KNOW THAT HUMANS DIDN’T EXIST BACK IN THE TIME OF PANGAEA, BUT WERE THERE ANY ANIMALS?

D:  THERE WERE LOTS OF ANIMALS ON PANGAEA, BUT MANY OF THEM WERE DIFFERENT THAN THE ANIMALS WE HAVE TODAY.  THERE WAS AN ANIMAL FAMILY CALLED TRAVERSODONTIDAE THAT EXISTED BACK THEN.  THE ANIMAL ATE PLANTS AND IS THOUGHT TO HAVE BEEN THE ANCESTOR OF THE MAMMALS, SO IT’S PROBABLY THE CLOSEST THING TO HUMANS THAT EXISTED BACK THEN.  

O:  THERE ARE ALSO ANIMALS THAT EXIST TODAY THAT EXISTED ALL THE WAY BACK THEN, AND MANY OF THOSE ANIMALS ARE INSECTS, LIKE BEETLES AND DRAGONFLIES.  

D:  AND, OF COURSE, THE EARLIEST DINOSAURS ALSO LIVED IN THE TIME OF PANGAEA.  

O:  THE EARLIEST DINOSAURS WERE A BIT DIFFERENT THAN THE DINOSAURS WE USUALLY THINK ABOUT WHEN WE IMAGINE DINOSAURS.  THE DINOSAURS BACK THEN HAD AIR FILLED BONES AND THEY WERE ALSO COVERED IN FEATHERS.  

D:  OKAY OLIVIA, LET’S ANSWER THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK.  WE KNOW THAT THE CONTINENTS ON EARTH ARE SLOWLY MOVING OVER TIME DUE TO SOMETHING CALLED PLATE TECTONICS.  WE LEARNED A BIT ABOUT PLATE TECTONICS IN OUR EPISODE ON EARTHQUAKES.  THERE ARE GIGANTIC PLATES THAT MAKE UP THE EARTH’S CRUST, AND THOSE PLATES ARE MOVING, WHICH EXPLAINS WHY THE CONTINENTS ARE MOVING.  BUT, DON’T BE ALARMED.  THAT DOESN’T MEAN THERE IS ANY CHANCE OF CONTINENTS COLLIDING ANY TIME SOON, SINCE THEY ARE MOVING SO SLOWLY.  OLIVIA, HOW QUICKLY ARE THE LAND MASSES ON EARTH MOVING?

O:  THEY ARE ONLY MOVING ABOUT ONE AND A HALF CENTIMETERS PER YEAR.  THAT’S JUST A SMIDGE OVER A HALF OF AN INCH.  THAT’S ABOUT THE SAME SPEED THAT IT TAKES OUR TOENAILS TO GROW.  THAT’S INCREDIBLY SLOW.  THAT’S WHY IT’S GOING TO TAKE AT LEAST TENS OF MILLIONS, AND PROBABLY EVEN HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF YEARS, BEFORE THE CONTINENTS COLLIDE TO FORM A NEW SUPERCONTINENT.  

D:  BELIEVE IT OR NOT, THERE ARE ALREADY NAMES FOR THE NEXT SUPERCONTINENT, BUT THE NAME IT GETS WILL DEPEND ON HOW IT FORMS.  IT MIGHT BE CALLED NOVOPANGEA, PANGEA ULTIMA, AURICA, OR MY PERSONAL FAVORITE, AMASIA, BECAUSE THAT NAME IS JUST AMAZING.  WELL, THAT’S A WRAP FOR THIS WEEK’S EPISODE.

O:  257 - PANGAEA.

D:  GREAT JOB OLIVIA, AND GREAT JOB PEYTON, BRAYDEN, GRAYSON, KYLA, MILES, AND JOEL FOR THE EPISODE TOPIC SUGGESTION THAT HAD US TRAVEL FURTHER BACK IN HISTORY USING OUR TIME MACHINES THAN ANY EPISODE IN THE HISTORY OF CURIOUS KID PODCAST.  BEFORE WE SIGN OFF FOR THE WEEK, WE HAVE AN AMAZING LISTENER TO THANK.

O:  WE WANT TO THANK USERNAME PINNINGANGEL FOR THE 5 STAR REVIEW.

D:  IT SAYS “INFORMATIVE, CREATIVE, WHOLESOME AND ALL AROUND WONDERFUL PODCAST THAT ENGAGES LISTENERS OF ALL AGES!  I HIGHLY RECOMMEND TO ALL PARENTS, KIDS, AND ANYONE WITH A HEALTHY SENSE OF CURIOSITY.”

O:  THAT WAS SUCH A THOUGHTFUL REVIEW.  WE CAN’T THANK YOU ENOUGH FOR TAKING THE TIME TO SHARE THOSE KIND WORDS.

D:  WE ARE SO LUCKY TO HAVE AMAZING LISTENERS THAT ARE AMAZING ENOUGH TO LEAVE WONDERFUL REVIEWS FOR US.  WE’VE BEEN AVERAGING MORE THAN A REVIEW PER DAY FOR THE LAST MONTH OR TWO, AND IT’S ALLOWED NEW LISTENERS TO FIND THE PODCAST, SO A HUGE THANKS TO ALL OF YOU FOR THE SUPPORT.  JOIN US NEXT WEEK WHEN WE WILL GET CURIOUS ABOUT ANTS FOR LISTENERS IN AUSTRALIA AND OREGON.  AS ALWAYS, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR LISTENING AND GETTING CURIOUS WITH US.