The supercontinent cycle begins
Continents start a rhythm of assembly and breakup that has repeated ever since.
- When
- Known to
- ± 150 million years
- Era
- Mesoarchean, Archean
With Vaalbara and Ur, Earth begins the pattern of continents gathering into supercontinents and rifting apart again roughly every 400 to 600 million years. Each cycle reorganises ocean circulation, climate and the distribution of shallow seas, and each breakup floods the world with new coastline. It is the slowest and most far-reaching rhythm in Earth's history, and it is still running.