Most recent supercontinent

The tectonic movement of plates over geological time has led to the formations of supercontinents in Earth’s past. These occur when all of Earth’s continental crust is joined together in a single landmass. There have been perhaps seven supercontinents, beginning with Vaalbara, each of which have broken up due to the same tectonic processes that created them. The last time this occurred was around 300 million years ago when all the continental crust gathered in the southern hemisphere to create the supercontinent Pangea, which began to break apart around 175 million years ago.

It is likely that another supercontinent will form in a few hundred million years.

The global ocean surrounding Pangea is known as Panthalassa.