“Unveiled Secrets: How Tasmania is Hiding a Stunning Piece of the Grand Canyon’s Mystique!”
Although Tasmania and the Grand Canyon are about 8,500 miles apart today, they were actually once connected as a part of an ancient supercontinent known as Rodinia, as this discovery supports. Rodinia was formed sometime around 1.1–0.9 billion years ago and broke up about 750–633 million years ago.
While it might sound odd to learn that parts of the Grand Canyon were found on the other side of the world in Australia, there is actually a scientific explanation as to why this isn’t at all strange.
Wikimedia CommonsA proposed reconstruction of ancient supercontinent, Rodinia.
For the last three billion years of Earth’s existence, its landmasses have been ripping apart and coming together again to create different formations that are known as supercontinents. The most well-known supercontinent is Pangaea, which was formed approximately 335 million years ago. But both before and after its formation countless other supercontinents have been created, too.
PixabayTasmania’s coastline.
With the Grand Canyon discovery made in Tasmania, geologists are now able to get a better sense of where these countries and continents were placed during Rodinia’s construction. This finding, then, supports the reconstruction of Rodinia in which Australia is connected to Laurentia — a large, ancient geological feature of the North American continent.
Geologists don’t have as much information and insight about Rodinia’s exact construction as they do other supercontinents, which makes this discovery integral to establishing a better idea of how the continents have moved over millennia.
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