page_title: Laurasia
section_title: Rodinia
hierarchical_section_title: Laurasia / Proto-Laurasia / Rodinia
caption_attribution_description: English: The supercontinent Rodinia 900 million years ago. Reconstruction from Li et al. 2008. View centred on -30,130. Continents are Laurentia in the middle and (clockwise from top) Tarim, Australia, South China, Siberia, North China, Arctic blocks, Rockall, Chortis, Baltica, Oaxacia, Amazonia, Pampia, West Africa, Hoggar, Sao Francisco, Congo, Sahara, Rio de la Plata, Kalahari, Dronning Maud Land, Rayner, India, Mawson (East Antarctica). Made using GPlates and datasets included here: Li, Z. X.; Bogdanova, S. V.; Collins, A. S.; Davidson, A.; De Waele, B.; Ernst, R. E.; Fitzsimons, I. C. W.; Fuck, R. A.; Gladkochub, D. P.; Jacobs, J.; Karlstrom, K. E.; Lul, S.; Natapov, L. M.; Pease, V.; Pisarevsky, S. A.; Thrane, K.; Vernikovsky, V. (2008). "Assembly, configuration, and break-up history of Rodinia: A synthesis". Precambrian Research. 160 (1–2): 179–210.
context_page_description: Laurasia, a portmanteau for Laurentia and Asia, was the more northern of two minor supercontinents that formed part of the Pangaea supercontinent from c. 425 million years ago to 200 Mya. It separated from Gondwana 215 to 175 Mya during the breakup of Pangaea, drifting farther north after the split and finally broke apart with the opening of the North Atlantic Ocean c. 56 Mya.
  Laurentia, Avalonia, and Baltica, and a series of smaller terranes, collided in the Caledonian orogeny c. 400 Ma to form Laurussia. Laurussia then collided with Gondwana to form Pangaea. Kazakhstania and Siberia was then added to Pangaea 290–300 Ma to form Laurasia. Laurasia finally became an independent continental mass when Pangaea broke-up into Gondwana and Laurasia.
context_section_description: In the vast majority of plate tectonic reconstructions, Laurentia formed the core of the supercontinent Rodinia, but the exact fit of various continents within Rodinia is debated.  In some reconstructions, Baltica was attached to Greenland along its Scandinavian or Caledonide margin while Amazonia was docked along Baltica's Tornquist margin.  Australia and East Antarctica were located on Laurentia's western margin.
  Siberia was located near but at some distance from Laurentia's northern margin in most reconstructions.
  In the reconstruction of some Russian geologists, however, the southern margin (modern coordinates) of Siberia merged with the northern margin of Laurentia, and these two continents broke up along what is now the 3,000 km (1,900 mi)-long Central Asian Foldbelt no later than 570 Mya and traces of this breakup can still be found in the Franklin dike swarm in northern Canada and the Aldan Shield in Siberia.
  The Proto-Pacific opened and Rodinia began to breakup during the Neoproterozoic (c. 750–600 Mya) as Australia-Antarctica (East Gondwana) rifted from the western margin of Laurentia, while the rest of Rodinia (West Gondwana and Laurasia) rotated clockwise and drifted south.  Earth subsequently underwent a series of glaciations – the Varanger (c. 650 Mya, also known as Snowball Earth) and the Rapitan and Ice Brook glaciations (c. 610-590 Mya) – both Laurentia and Baltica were located south of 30°S, with the South Pole located in eastern Baltica, and glacial deposits from this period have been found in Laurentia and Baltica but not in Siberia.
  A mantle plume (the Central Iapetus Magmatic Province) forced Laurentia and Baltica to separate ca. 650–600 Mya and the Iapetus Ocean opened between them.  Laurentia then began to move quickly (20 cm/year (7.9 in/year)) north towards the Equator where it got stuck over a cold spot in the Proto-pacific.  Baltica remained near Gondwana in southern latitudes into the Ordovician.
caption: Rodinia 900 Mya centred on Laurentia with Baltica and Amazonia on its southern margin.[12]
  View centred on 30°S,130°E.
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