Since the formation of planet Earth, both biological and geological processes have been constantly going on on it. From the school bench in our minds and memory, the outlines of the continents and the largest islands in the seas and oceans have been laid off.
But we are well aware that their outlines, billions of years before the advent of Mankind, were completely different, as paleontological and geological studies prove. And before looking at the largest continent in the world, let us take a brief look at the geological history of the Earth.
The history of the formation of continents
The active formation of the seas, oceans and small land areas began in the ancient Archean era, about 4.3 billion years ago. And land was formed from deep rocks, which rose and formed land areas. One can only guess what a stormy and stunning process this was, accompanied by eruptions, huge tsunamis, earthquakes.
Pangea
Pictured: Reconstruction of the Pangea Supercontinent
Tectonic plates collided, diverged, came one under another. Many ancient continents as a result of this process, about 335-175 million years ago, a single supercontinent Pangea was formed. Where continents collided, mountain systems formed, some of them, the Appalachian Mountains and the Urals, exist today.
In the picture above you can see where the territories of modern states were located on the supercontinent Pangea.
Laurasia and Gondwana
About 790 million years ago, Pangea split, forming the northern continent of Laurasia and the southern, which scientists called Gondwana.
About 180 million years ago, North America and Eurasia formed from Laurasia.
The separation of Gondwana began about 750 million years ago, and ended 530 million years ago, when Africa, Antarctica, Australia, South America, as well as the Arabian Peninsula and India were formed.
Interestingly, about 70 million years ago, India was a separate continent. However, like the Arabian Peninsula, which today is the largest peninsula of the planet.
The movements of the continents in time you can see in the picture below:
Eurasia is the largest continent
For a long time, the scientific world and ordinary inhabitants believed that the largest continent on the planet is South and North America, whose total area is 38.2 million square kilometers.
But still, Eurasia, with its area of 53.89 million km²., Is the largest continent on our amazing planet Earth.
Having done some simple mathematical calculations, we learn that Eurasia occupies a third of all land on Earth.
It harmoniously fit two amazing and unique parts of the world - Europe and Asia, as well as the largest country on the political map of the world - Russia, as well as the state of China in terms of population many times superior to other countries of the world.
Interesting facts about Eurasia
1 Eurasia is a real record holder for many geographical and geological indicators, because in its vast expanses is located the largest ...
2 The largest mainland Eurasia owes its name to the Austrian geologist Edward Suess, who for the first time in 1833 proposed to call this part of the land “Eurasia”.
3 Asian countries far surpass the European ones in the occupied area of the continent, and only this mainland was able to place states and nationalities on its territory with different political systems, national traditions, religion and worldview.
4 In the very center of Asia, as part of the continent, are the highest mountains of the earth - the Himalayas, and also the deepest lake Baikal and the largest of the lakes on the planet - the Caspian Sea.
5 You can add to the records that the smallest Sea of Azov is located here, and the largest on Earth, called, from the time of Ancient Greece, the Mediterranean.
6 Great Britain, which, as you know, is located on the island, and is part of Eurasia, is the largest island on our planet.
7 The shores of Eurasia are washed by all the oceans on the Earth’s surface, and the names of the seas consist of the names of the colors - Black, White, Black, Red. But in the Dead Sea, there is a hollow, which today is the lowest point on earth.
8 At the end of the list of interesting facts, we note that it was Eurasia that became the progenitor of all the most ancient civilizations. From here, agriculture, writing, the first knowledge of earth and space, and religious beliefs spread throughout the globe.
9 From a scientific point of view, for historians, archaeologists, linguists and representatives of other sciences, the continent of Eurasia is simply invaluable.
10 Russian scientists, having analyzed the movement of the rift zone of Lake Baikal, came to an interesting conclusion. It turns out that the fault, in which the deepest lake of the planet is located, is constantly increasing and after 20 million it can divide Eurasia in half, making Lake Baikal a new ocean.
So we found out which continent is the largest, as well as the history of the formation of the earth's surface, seas and oceans and interesting facts about the largest continent.
It is difficult to imagine how our Earth will look in thousands or millions of years. But modern modeling technologies allow, albeit not quite, to open this mysterious curtain and look into the distant future.
Article author: Valery Skiba