Lang Buana

Exercise 5 - Discovering Ireland’s Geology – GEOL 20220

Plate tectonic evolution I: the breakup of Pangea (200-0 ma)

Exercise Aims
The theory of plate tectonics was strongly influenced by the idea of continental drift proposed in
1915 by the German meteorologist Alfred L. Wegener (1880–1930) in a publication called 'The Origin
of Continents and Oceans'. Wegener suggested that continents once fit together forming a single
land mass, or supercontinent, that he called “Pangea”: a named derived from Ancient Greek pan
meaning “all” and gaia meaning “earth” or “land”. Pangea, he proposed, broke up and drifted apart.
In this exercise we will explore, using Google Earth, the model for the breakup of Pangea and some
of the evidence used to justify continental drift: distribution of fossils, mountain belts and glacial
deposits. We will see how extension of the continental lithosphere leads to its rupture and break up
(rifting) and subsequent formation of a new ocean. Continental drift as well as the formation and
breakup of supercontinents are now widely accepted phenomena that underpin plate tectonic
theory.

Learning Outcomes
By the end of this exercise you should know:

- what is meant by continental drift, supercontinents and superoceans;

- what evidence supports continental drift and continental breakup;
- when and how Pangea broke up;
- where and when Ireland was located on the supercontinent of Pangea;
- how Ireland has changed position since Pangea’s break up;
- what caused Paleocene volcanism in Ireland and Scotland;
- how palaeomagnetism can be used to determine palaeolatitude;
- what happens when continents collide.

What do you need?

Computer with an internet connection and GoogleEarth installed (if needed download from here).

GoogleEarth file “GEOL20220_Exercise_5.kmz” (copy to your hard drive)

What to do?
Follow the steps below and give yours answers to questions in the grey answer boxes making these
bigger if you need extra space. Once you have finished review your work using the worked exercise
sheet (…Qs&Ans.docx).

1
Lang Buana

In GoogleEarth open “GEOL20220_Exercise_5.kmz”.

You should see the following list of layers under your Places tab.

If you have not used Google Earth a user guide can be found here.

PANGEA BREAKUP

- The Pangaea Breakup layer allows you to view a model for how continents have changed
locations through time over the last 200 my. For a help screen explaining what data is within
this layer click on the hyperlink.

Use the time slider (shown below) to go back and forward in time: go to 200 mya when the
supercontinent Pangea existed.

What geological period was this? Where was Ireland in terms of longitude and latitude and its
position in Pangea? Hint: turn on the grid (Ctrl-L in Windows or Com-L on Mac) to see longitude
and latitude.

2
Lang Buana

ANSWER

- The super-ocean that surrounded Pangea is called Panthalassa also sometimes referred to as
the palaeo- or proto-Pacific. Using the ruler tool (shown below) measure how wide is the
Panthalassa Ocean surrounding Pangea at the equator200 mya.

Ruler tool (highlighted).

ANSWER

- Where and at what time did Pangea start breaking up? Which direction did rifting (breaking up)
propagate in?

ANSWER

- When did Ireland break away from Canada and Greenland?

ANSWER

3
Lang Buana

- Turn on the crust age data. Are these ages of rifting consistent with the oldest sea floor ages?
We looked at these in the last exercise.

ANSWER

- Volcanism. Ireland and Scotland have Paleocene age igneous volcanic complexes dating from 63-
52 my: these include the famous Giant’s Causeway basalts of Antrim and further south in Ireland
the Mourne and Cooley mountains. What was happening at this time that could have caused
this volcanism?

The British Tertiary Igneous Province in Northern Ireland and Scotland shown in pink.
Source: Ganerød et al. (2010)

ANSWER

4
Lang Buana

- Distance of drifting. How far has Ireland drifted over the last 200 mya? Hint: use place markers
to show where Dublin was at various times to help you.

ANSWER

- Pattern of drifting. How would you describe the motion of Ireland’s drifting through time? Was it
in the same direction?

ANSWER

- Pangea breakup. What geodynamic processes discussed in Exercise 4 do you think could have
broken Pangea apart?

ANSWER

EVIDENCE FOR CONTINENTAL DRIFT

- Now we will examine some of the different lines of evidence for continental drift. Which
continents in their present position today show an obvious jigsaw-like fit suggesting they were
once together?

ANSWER

5
Lang Buana

- In the subfolder of Pangea Breakup called features, turn on mountains - they may take a few
seconds to load. Wegener pointed out that several major mountain belts that end abruptly at
the continental margins have similar ages and structural styles to mountains on the opposite
sides of oceans. Can you identify today’s mountain belts which in the past formed longer
continuous belts when you bring the continents back together?

ANSWER

- In features, turn on fossils and view the southern hemisphere. This shows the distribution of
some key fossils which today occur on continents separated by oceans but once were found on a
single land mass. See how the breakup of Pangea has separated the original depositional sites of
these organisms noting which continents they are found on today. Find out what types of
fossilised organisms these are – here is a good website. How was it possible that plants were
growing nearly at the South Pole 200 mya?

ANSWER

- Take a look at Palaeozoic glacial deposits found in the southern hemisphere. Note these older
sediments were deposited on the continent of Gondwana before it merged with the rest of
Pangea. Does the distribution of glacial deposits make more sense when they are fitted back
together in Pangea?

ANSWER

6
Lang Buana

- Geological fit. We do not have the information in Google Earth to see this but when we bring
continents back together to form Pangea, there is also a good geological fit as for instance
shown below for South America and Africa.

Source: geolsoc.org.uk

Continental drift as argued by Alfred Wegener is an example of exemplary science in the field
of geology where multiple lines of evidence (observations) were used to back up an unproven
idea (theoretical model) despite it seeming quite unbelievable by many when first proposed!

PALAEOMAGNETISM

- We have considered palaeomagnetism in previous exercises in terms of magnetic polarity

reversals which has been used to help date rocks and understand the formation of oceanic
crust. The palaeomagnetism of minerals is also used to calculate the palaeolatitude at which
minerals formed or were deposited and this tells us where the continents were in the past.

- The Earth’s magnetic field or geomagnetic field is shown in the picture below. Given that
during crystallization some iron rich minerals, such as magnetite, align the direction of their

7
Lang Buana

magnetic field to the geomagnetic field, how might this be used to determine the palaeolatitude
of crystallisation or deposition?

Source: website

ANSWER

- The palaeolatitude, λ , is calculated using the equation: tan I =2 tan λ , where I is the measured
inclination of the mineral magnetic field. If a sample of basalt collected from 47 oN 20oE has a
magnetic inclination of 30oN, what was the latitude at which it crystallized and how far and in
what direction has it moved since?

8
Lang Buana

ANSWER

- Potential errors. What aspects of geology and rock magnetism might we need to consider when
determining palaeolatitude using geological samples?

ANSWER

CONTINENTAL COLLISION
- Lastly here we will take a look at what happens when continents collide.

- Go back to 200 mya and find India which has quite an extraordinary history. When does India
break away from Madagascar? How far does it travel north to its present location and at what
average velocity in cm/yr? Is this fast or slow for plate movement? What formed when India
collided with Eurasia?

ANSWER

- Moving to Europe, what cause the Alps to form?

9
Lang Buana

ANSWER

- Finally, let’s take a look south of Ireland at the opening of the Bay of Biscay starting ~ 120 mya.
What type of motion causes the Bay of Biscay to open? What topographic feature forms due to
the coming together of France and Spain ~120-110 mya?

ANSWER

10