Rodinia

Rodinia, meaning "homeland", is the name of a supercontinent. It had most or all of Earth's landmass when the Neoproterozoic era began.^[1]

Rodinia existed between 1.1 billion and 750 million years ago. It formed from parts of an older and poorly understood supercontinent.^[2][3]

Rodinia broke up in the first period of the Neoproterozoic, the Tonian. Later its continental fragments were re-assembled to form Pangaea 300–250 million years ago. In contrast with Pangaea, little is known yet about the exact position and history of Rodinia.

The extreme cooling of the global climate around 700 million years ago (the so-called Snowball Earth of the Cryogenian period) and the rapid evolution of primitive life during the following Ediacaran and Cambrian periods may have been caused by the breaking up of Rodinia.

1. ↑ Li Z.X. et al 2008. Assembly, configuration, and break-up history of Rodinia: a synthesis. Precambrian Research 160: 179–210
2. ↑ Zhao, Guochun; et al. (2002). "Review of global 2.1–1.8 Ga orogens: implications for a pre-Rodinia supercontinent". Earth-Science Reviews. 59 (1–4): 125–162. Bibcode:2002ESRv...59..125Z. doi:10.1016/S0012-8252(02)00073-9.
3. ↑ Zhao, Guochun; et al. (2004). "A Paleo-Mesoproterozoic supercontinent: assembly, growth and breakup". Earth-Science Reviews. 67 (1–2): 91–123. Bibcode:2004ESRv...67...91Z. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2004.02.003.