Kenorland breaks apart
The first great supercontinent rifts, flooding the world with new coastline.
- When
- Known to
- ± 50 million years
- Era
- Paleoproterozoic, Proterozoic
Rifting fragments Kenorland from about 2.45 billion years ago, opening shallow seas between the pieces. Continental margins are where nutrients collect and cyanobacteria flourish, so breakup and the oxygen rise that follows are probably linked. The dyke swarms produced during the rifting are among the best-dated events of this age.