Pangea

 

Pangea was the large conglomeration of all the present day continents.  This one large landmass is a plausible explanation for the dispersal pattern of  the glossopteris fern.  The fern fossils, according to the current situation of the continents, are located on separate landforms. This makes their dispersal seem very outrageous.  How did they get from continent to continent?  Some, those who disagree with the supercontinent theory, speculated that the spores blew in the wind and landed on the separate continents.  This is not possible.  The spores could not have traveled that far.  Another thought was that they were carried along by certain freshwater species.  This too is not possible, the ocean is a saltwater body.  The one logical possibility was that of Pangea.  If the continents were one, the disperal of the glossopteris fern would be as it currently is found today.        

 

The supercontinent, Pangea, began to split about 200 million years ago and has since formed the world as we know it today.

 

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