Pangaea begins to break apart
c. 200 million years ago · Event
Rifts tear through the supercontinent and the central Atlantic begins to open, splitting Pangaea into Laurasia and Gondwana — the vast volcanic outpourings along the seams are prime suspects in the extinction that ends the Triassic. As the fragments drift apart, dinosaur populations are carried into isolation and evolve separately: the breakup is why the Jurassic and Cretaceous worlds are so much more diverse than the Triassic one.
On these timelines: Master, The Age of Dinosaurs
Around 200000000 BCE
- Jurassic Period (201000000 BCE)
- Triassic–Jurassic extinction (201000000 BCE)
- Coelophysis (216000000 BCE)
- Plateosaurus (214000000 BCE)