Pangaea breaks apart beneath the dinosaurs' feet
One supercontinent slowly becomes the map we know
Quick facts
- Start
- One supercontinent, Pangaea, at the dawn of the dinosaurs
- Major rifting begins
- About 201 million years ago (end of the Triassic)
- Jurassic split
- Laurasia (north) and Gondwana (south)
- Full span
- Breakup continued through nearly the whole 165-million-year age of dinosaurs
What happened
When dinosaurs first appeared, all of Earth's land was joined into a single supercontinent, Pangaea. Toward the end of the Triassic, around 201 million years ago, huge volcanic eruptions began tearing it apart along the boundary between what is now North America and Africa, opening the earliest North Atlantic Ocean. During the Jurassic that followed, Pangaea split fully into two: Laurasia in the north and Gondwana in the south. The Natural History Museum notes that fossil records still show similarities between the two halves early in the Jurassic, meaning some land connections lingered, but the two landmasses grew more distinct as the period went on. By the Cretaceous, the pieces had separated further into something close to today's continents, still adrift from their modern positions. The U.S. Geological Survey frames the whole process as spanning nearly the full 165-million-year run of the dinosaurs.
Why it matters
This slow breakup is why dinosaur fossils turn up on every continent in different, often unrelated families: the animals evolved together on one landmass and then drifted apart with it, becoming more distinct the longer they were separated. The moving map is the hidden geography behind the whole rest of this timeline.
How we know
The U.S. Geological Survey states Pangaea existed as one supercontinent at the start of the age of dinosaurs and broke apart over the following 165 million years through plate tectonics. The U.S. National Park Service dates the onset of major rifting to about 201 million years ago, at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary, driven by huge volcanic eruptions. The Natural History Museum describes the Jurassic split into Laurasia and Gondwana and the fading fossil similarities between them, and the further Cretaceous fragmentation.
Sources
- U.S. Geological Survey. Where did dinosaurs live? (U.S. Geological Survey) (2023) · Reputable sourceusgs.gov · The domain "usgs.gov" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- U.S. National Park Service. The Supercontinent Pangea (U.S. National Park Service) (2023) · Reputable sourcenps.gov · The domain "nps.gov" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- Natural History Museum, London. When did dinosaurs live? (Natural History Museum) (2024) · Reputable sourcenhm.ac.uk · The domain "nhm.ac.uk" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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Part of a timelineAge of Dinosaurs21 events · The age of the dinosaurs across the Mesozoic Era, from the Great Dying that cleared the way to the asteroid that ended their reign.View all →