A

David

Darling

Laurasia

Laurasia and Gondwanaland during the Triassic, about 200 million years ago

Laurasia and Gondwanaland during the Triassic, about 200 million years ago.


Laurasia was an ancient supercontinent of the Northern Hemisphere formed, with Gondwanaland to the south, after the splitting of Pangea (see continental drift) along a rift, the Tethyan trench. It appears to have comprised present-day Europe, North America, and northern Asia. The name is a combination of Laurentian, a geological period in North America, and Eurasia. Continental drift and plate tectonics caused Laurasia to split up into the separate continents that exist today.