Dictionary

supercontinent en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *úp Proto-Indo-European *-er Proto-Indo-European *upér Proto-Italic *super Latin super Latin super-lbor. English super- English continent English supercontinent From super- + continent.

Meanings

1. A very large continent that split into smaller ones in the Earth’s geologic past.
   • For a supercontinent to form requires a significant volume of continental crustal fragments that survive recycling into the mantle. 2001, Kent C. Condie, Mantle Plumes and Their Record in Earth History, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 237:
   • Some 200 million years ago, the rocks that became the Palisades cliffs just across the Hudson River from Manhattan formed during volcanic activity that helped rip apart the ancient supercontinent Pangea. 2022 February 3, Lucas Joel, “Dissolving in Toxic Oceans: How an Ancient Extinction Happened”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 16 Mar 2022:
2. A modern landmass composed of multiple continents, i.e. Afro-Eurasia or the Americas.

Forms

Coordinates

subcontinent

Deriveds

supercontinent cycle

Relateds

Pangaea

Translations (29)

pt supercontinente (very large continent in the Earth's past) · fr supercontinent (one of modern landmasses) · eo superkontinento (very large continent in the Earth's past) · el υπερήπειρος (one of modern landmasses) · de Superkontinent (very large continent in the Earth's past) · nl supercontinent (very large continent in the Earth's past) · fi suurmanner (one of modern landmasses) · th มหาทวีป (one of modern landmasses) · da superkontinent (one of modern landmasses) · es supercontinente (very large continent in the Earth's past) · ru суперконтине́нт (one of modern landmasses) · fi jättiläismanner (very large continent in the Earth's past) · no superkontinent (very large continent in the Earth's past) · pt supercontinente (one of modern landmasses) · ka სუპერკონტინენტი (very large continent in the Earth's past) · th มหาทวีป (very large continent in the Earth's past) · ru суперконтине́нт (very large continent in the Earth's past) · fr supercontinent (very large continent in the Earth's past) · et hiidmanner (one of modern landmasses) · eo kotinentego (very large continent in the Earth's past) · nl oercontinent (very large continent in the Earth's past) · nl supercontinent (one of modern landmasses) · de Doppelkontinent (one of modern landmasses) · et hiidmanner (very large continent in the Earth's past) · ja 超大陸 (very large continent in the Earth's past) · sv superkontinent (very large continent in the Earth's past) · el υπερήπειρος (very large continent in the Earth's past) · sv superkontinent (one of modern landmasses) · es supercontinente (one of modern landmasses)