Pangaea: Mystery of the Broken Continent

Attempting to Map the Ecology of the Super Continent

Anyone looking at a map of the world will likely notice that it looks a bit like a jigsaw puzzle. Especially in the Pacific, the edges of the Americas and Africa look like they must have fit together at one time. Indeed every scientist that I've heard speak or write on the matter has been under the impression that all continents were attached at one time. This hypothetical giant landmass is known as Pangaea.

Pangaea is a mystery among evolutionists and creationists alike. Scientifically, the only evidence we have to run on is in the fossil record, the point in time marking the very end of the pre Flood world. So, in essence, the only way to know what the world looked like before the flood is by studying how it was destroyed. Not a lot to go by. Fortunately, the Bible also adds to our knowledge, providing the framework of a global Flood, continental drift, and oceanic water levels. However, there is still a host of unanswered questions.

First off, water levels must be taken into consideration. The Bible speaks of the "springs of the great deep" and the "floodgates of the heavens" breaking forth in Genesis 7:11 (NIV). Before the flood, much of the planet's water was pent up in these two locations ("the great deep" and "the heavens"). When they finally released their holds of liquid, it would have contributed to water levels to a certain level, depending on how much water actually was released. The Bible informs us that it was enough to cover "all the high mountains" of that pre Flood globe, so it was a lot of water. Viewing a map of the seafloor, I can see that the continental shelves, especially between Alaska and Siberia, and in southeast Asia end far out to sea. I think it is safe to postulate that these continental edges would have been uncovered before the floodwaters came. Strangely, I haven't heard anything about this in creationist circles but it would be a significant factor. 

Another interesting point is the question of continental drift. Whether Pangaea divided during or sometime after the Flood is a debatable question (there is not reason to believe it happened before the Flood). Evidence for a post Flood division include Biblical references to the earth dividing in the days of Peleg from Genesis 10:25 and 1 Chronicles 1:19 (NIV). A later date would also give time for animals to disperse to the various continents during the Ice Age (because of all the glaciation, water levels would have been lower then, too, creating land bridges). However, even the Ice Age shouldn't be taken for granted. If it happened during the Flood, one is left postulating about giant tortoises floating across the sea on "vegetation mats" and interpreting the Biblical word "earth" as "nations."

Also important is the question of ecological provinces on Pangaea. For example, the Morrison is a large geological formation in Wyoming, Utah, and other states. Is this formation representing an ecological region on the same land that is North America today? Bone beds, sandstone layers, and other evidences of watery currents indicate that the organisms were carried by water and deposited there so they didn't die and get berried slowly as evolutionists postulate. So, how far were they carried from their original dwelling place? At present, I think that the distribution of fossil species indicates that they did die near enough to where they had lived. Theoretically placing the continents together, then sampling from the fossil beds on each continent provides an accurate map of various species ranges. Similar species shared between each continent provides the links that theoretically hold the continents together. These links are very clearly defined, I hope to write more on this later.

A trio of metoposaurs (large extinct amphibians) feed in the shallows of a pond. There is little doubt that such ecological niches existed, but was there any rhyme or reason to these ecosystems and can we detect and map them?

Besides the above major factors, Pangaea ecology hangs in the balance by many other considerations. Volcanic activity may have played a role in a fossil location, similar to how continental drift does. A shifting plate of the Earth's crust might shove a fossil bed away from a volcanic region and keep Flood deposits toward valleys. A careful study of the geologic column and its accuracy might also provide clews as to which habitats were buried first, beginning with deep marine reefs to cooler mountain habitats dominated by mammals. It's all so highly hypothetical at this point but, in an upcoming post, I will attempt to provide a creationists map of Pangaea. The results are turning out to be quite surprising and may provide answers to questions that have been plaguing palaeontology for years.