Laurasia

Laurasia
/law ray"zheuh, -sheuh/, n. Geol.
a hypothetical landmass in the Northern Hemisphere near the end of the Paleozoic Era: split apart to form North America and Eurasia. Cf. Gondwana.
[1930-35; b. LAURENTIAN (def. 2) and EURASIA]

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Hypothetical former supercontinent in the Southern Hemisphere, which included modern North America, Europe, and Asia (except peninsular India).

The concept that the continents were at one time joined was first set forth in detail by Alfred Wegener in 1912. He envisioned a single great landmass, Pangaea, which supposedly began to separate in the Late Triassic Epoch (227–206 million years ago). Subsequent research distinguished between a northern landmass, Laurasia, and Gondwana. Laurasia is thought to have fragmented into the present continents largely during the Mesozoic Era. See also continental drift.

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 ancient continental mass in the Northern Hemisphere that included North America, Europe, and Asia (except peninsular India). Its existence was proposed by Alexander Du Toit, a South African geologist, in Our Wandering Continents (1937). This book was a reformulation of the continental drift theory advanced by the German meteorologist Alfred Wegener (Wegener, Alfred Lothar). Whereas Wegener had postulated a single supercontinent, Pangea, Du Toit theorized that there were two such great landmasses: Laurasia in the north and Gondwana in the south, separated by an oceanic area called Tethys (Tethys Sea). Laurasia is thought to have fragmented into the present continents of North America, Europe, and Asia some 66 million to 30 million years ago, an interval that spans the end of the Cretaceous (Cretaceous Period) Period and the first part of the Paleogene Period.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Laurasia — und Gondwana vor dem Zerfall Pangaeas – Antarktika, Indien und Australien zeigen bereits Ablösungstendenz von Westgondwana, die Riftzone zwischen Afrika und Südamerika bildet sich – 200 mya – während der Wende Trias – Jura Laurasia (von …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Laurasia — (IPAEng|lɔˈreɪʃiə, lɔˈreɪʒə [OED] ) was a supercontinent that most recently existed as a part of the split of the Pangaean supercontinent in the late Mesozoic era. It included most of the landmasses which make up today s continents of the… …   Wikipedia

  • Laurasia — es el nombre dado a una antigua masa de tierra del hemisferio norte surgida de la desintegración del supercontinente Pangea en el periodo mesozoico tardío. Laurasia se dividió en Eurasia y América del Norte hace unos 200 millones de años. ●… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Laurasia —   [zu Laurentia und Asien], Geologie: Urkontinent auf der Nordhalbkugel (Nordamerika, Europa, Nordasien), der seit dem Jura zum Teil auseinander driftete. (Kontinentalverschiebung) …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Laurasia — 1931; see LAURENTIAN (Cf. Laurentian) …   Etymology dictionary

  • Laurasia — [lô rā′zhə, lô rā′shə] [ LAUR(ENTIAN) + (EUR)ASIA] the Mesozoic landmass in the Northern Hemisphere that included what are now North America and Eurasia: it and Gondwana were the result of the splitting of Pangea …   English World dictionary

  • Laurasia — Carte des terres émergées au Trias. La Laurasia ou Laurasie est un supercontinent qui se sépara du reste de la Pangée (appelé dès lors Gondwana) durant le Mésozoïque. La Laurasia se divise à son tour en Eurasie et Amérique du Nord il y a environ… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Laurasia — Una interpretación de la fase temprana de separación de Laurasia y Gondwana. Laurasia es el nombre dado a una antigua masa de tierra del hemisferio norte surgida hacia el final del Jurásico de la desintegración del supercontinente Pangea,… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Laurasia — geographical name hypothetical land area believed to have once connected the landmasses of the northern hemisphere except for the Indian subcontinent …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • Laurasia — noun A supercontinent including most of the landmasses which make up todays continents of the northern hemisphere …   Wiktionary

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