Atlantica (continent)

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Atlantica is a hypothetical, geological continent that is said to have existed around 2 billion years ago. It included parts of West Africa and parts of eastern South America.

Naming

The name was suggested by John JW Rogers in 1996. The name is derived from the Atlantic Ocean, which today passes through the former continent.

Components

Atlantica was formed around 2 billion years ago through the union of the West African craton and the Congo craton in Africa and the Guyana craton , Brazil craton , Sao Francisco craton and the Rio de la Plata craton in South America. The main argument for an earlier togetherness are the mighty fluvial and deltaic sediments around 2000 million years old on these five cratons.

Atlantica as a geological continent

After the formation of Atlantica 2.1 to 2 billion years ago, it became an integral part of the supercontinent Columbia around 1800 million years ago . Atlantica later became an integral part of Gondwana or Western Gondwana. In the Upper Mesozoic, the earlier Atlantica was separated by the opening of the Atlantic.

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literature

  • John JW Rogers: A history of continents in the past three billion years. Journal of Geology, 104: 91-107, Chicago, 1996 ISSN  0022-1376
  • John JW Rogers and M. Santosh: Supercontinents in Earth History. Gondwana Research , 6 (3): 357-368, Osaka 2003 ISSN  1342-937X .

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