Synonyms
Break-up of the supercontinent Rodinia
Definition
Supercontinent Rodinia . The earth’s geodynamic system periodically pushes almost all continents together to form a single landmass – a supercontinent. The best known supercontinent is Pangaea (or Pangea) that existed between 320 and 170 Ma. A less known supercontinent Rodinia is believed to have existed between 900 Ma (some believe 1,000 Ma) and 750 Ma. The name “Rodinia” was coined by McMenamin and McMenamin (1990) from the Russian word “rodit” meaning “to beget” or “to give birth.” McMenamin and McMenamin (1990, p. 95) considered Rodinia to have been the supercontinent that spawned all subsequent continents, while “the edges (continental shelves ) of Rodinia were the cradle of the earliest animals.” Three landmark paper in 1991 (Moores, 1991; Dalziel, 1991; Hoffman, 1991) triggered a global debate on this supercontinent hypothesis. The configuration of Rodinia is still controversial today, with some alternative...
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Li, ZX. (2011). Breakup of Rodinia. In: Reitner, J., Thiel, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geobiology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9212-1_38
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