Plates play a role in Pangaea changing into 7 continents because there are 7 major plates in the world. These plates are being moved by sea-floor spreading, pulling the continents along with them.
continents are tectonic plates! so.... yes!
Over millions of years, the movement of tectonic plates has caused Pangaea to break apart into the continents we have today. This process, known as continental drift, continues to slowly reshape the Earth's surface. Various geological forces such as earthquakes, volcanic activity, and erosion play a role in shaping the landscapes we see today.
Fossils play a role in understanding Pangaea and continental drift by demonstrating that similar organisms lived on now widely separated continents, suggesting that these landmasses were once connected. Fossils of the same species found on continents that are now far apart provide evidence that these landmasses were once part of a single supercontinent. By studying the distribution of fossils across different continents, scientists can reconstruct the ancient movements of landmasses and support the theory of continental drift and the existence of Pangaea.
What scientific disciplines records the shapes and locations of continents
Plate tectonics
Oceans and continents are connected through the process of plate tectonics. The movement of tectonic plates causes continents to drift apart or come together, creating ocean basins and mountain ranges. Additionally, ocean currents play a role in redistributing heat and nutrients around the world, influencing global climate patterns.
Continents change over time through the process of plate tectonics, where the Earth's outer shell is divided into plates that move relative to each other. This movement can cause continents to drift apart, collide, or slide past one another, leading to the formation of mountain ranges, rift valleys, and other geological features. Erosion and deposition processes also play a role in reshaping continents over time.
Pangaea is the most recent of a series of super-continents that have formed and broken up. The previous one was Pannotia which lasted from about 600 to 540 million years ago. This represents much of the period over which modern life forms evolved. There are suspected to have been another two earlier super continents. But the archaic bacteria and the following algae date from much earlier. These may date to about 3500 million years, and the algae invented photosynthesis, which oxygenated the Earth. This caused a "Snowball Earth" due to the removal of most of the greenhouse gases, and this freeze may have lasted until the pre Cambrian. Reverting to the question, the most recent continental breakup of Pangaea led to some of modern speciation, quite notably that of Australia. Though the flora of Gondwana is worth an inspection for the beech forests.
Did you mean continents?
Seafloor spreading is the process by which new oceanic crust is created through volcanic activity at mid-ocean ridges. As this new crust forms, it pushes the existing crust apart, which in turn causes the continents to move. This movement of the tectonic plates, driven by seafloor spreading, plays a significant role in shaping the arrangement of continents as they are today through the theory of plate tectonics.
By a geographical feature, usually water, but not necessarily. Europe and Asia are separated by rivers and mountain ranges, and the two are sometimes referred to as Eurasia. North America and South America are connected by the Isthmus of Panama, and they are sometimes referred to as the Americas.
Plate boundaries are locations where tectonic plates interact, leading to the formation of various geological features like mountains, earthquakes, and volcanoes. There are three main types of plate boundaries: divergent, convergent, and transform. These boundaries play a crucial role in shaping the Earth's surface and driving the movement of continents.