page_title: Pannotia
section_title: Formation
hierarchical_section_title: Pannotia / Formation
caption_attribution_description: English: A proposed reconstruction of the supercontinent Rodinia 750 million years ago, with 1.1 billion years old orogenic belts highlighted. This reconstruction is based on 'traditional' model shown and discussed in Meert &amp; Torsvik, 2003 (which is in turn based on Dalziel, 1997 and Torsvik et al., 1996 – the second work explicitly states the age of 750 Ma). See: The Antarctic Sun 2011. For the red dots, see Rejcek 2008.
context_page_description: Pannotia, also known as the Vendian supercontinent, Greater Gondwana, and the Pan-African supercontinent, was a relatively short-lived Neoproterozoic supercontinent that formed at the end of the Precambrian during the Pan-African orogeny and broke apart 560 Ma with the opening of the Iapetus Ocean.
  Pannotia formed when Laurentia was located adjacent to the two major South American cratons, Amazonia and Río de la Plata. The opening of the Iapetus Ocean separated Laurentia from Baltica, Amazonia, and Río de la Plata.
context_section_description: Reconstructions of Rodinia vary but most include five elements:
  Laurentia or the Canadian Shield is located at the centre;
  the west coast of Laurentia is facing Antarctica and Australia (or East Gondwana);
  the east coast of Laurentia is facing the Amazonian Craton;
  the north coast is facing Baltica;
  and Siberia lies next to Baltica.
  Less certain position of continental blocks includes:
  the West African Craton was simply an extension of the Amazonian Craton;
  East Gondwana was probably broken apart by oceans;
  the Cathaysian Terranes (Indochina, North China, and South China) were located adjacent to East Gondwana near the North Pole;
  the Congo Craton was located on the south coast of Laurentia, probably separated from Rodinia by the Mozambique and Adamastor oceans.
  The formation of Pannotia began during the Pan-African orogeny when the Congo continent got caught between the northern and southern halves of the previous supercontinent Rodinia some 750 Ma.  The peak in this mountain building event was around 640–610 Ma, but these continental collisions may have continued into the Early Cambrian some 530 Ma.  The formation of Pannotia was the result of Rodinia turning itself inside out.
  When Pannotia had formed, Africa was located at the centre surrounded by the rest of Gondwana: South America, Arabia, Madagascar, India, Antarctica, and Australia.  Laurentia, which 'escaped' out of Rodinia, Baltica, and Siberia kept the relative positions they had in Rodinia.  The Cathaysian and Cimmerian terranes (continental blocks of southern Asia) were located along the northern margins of east Gondwana.  The Avalonian-Cadomian terranes (later to become central Europe, Britain, the North American east coast, and Yucatán) were located along the active northern margins of western Gondwana.  This orogeny probably extended north into the Uralian margin of Baltica.
  Pannotia formed by subduction of exterior oceans (a mechanism called extroversion) over a geoid low, whereas Pangaea formed by subduction of interior oceans (introversion) over a geoid high perhaps caused by superplumes and slab avalanche events.
  The oceanic crust subducted by Pannotia formed within the Mirovoi superocean that surrounded Rodinia before its 830–750 Ma break-up and were accreted during the Late Proterozoic orogenies that resulted from the assembly of Pannotia.
  One of the major of these orogenies was the collision between East and West Gondwana or the East African Orogeny.  The Trans-Saharan Belt in West Africa is the result of the collision between the East Saharan Shield and the West African Craton when 1200–710 Ma-old volcanic and arc-related rocks were accreted to the margin of this craton.
  600–500 Ma two Brazilian interior orogenies got highly deformed and metamorphosed between a series of colliding cratons: Amazonia, West Africa-São Luís, and São Francisco-Congo-Kasai.  The material that was accreted included 950–850 Ma mafic meta-igneous complexes and younger arc-related rocks.
caption: Rodinia 750 Ma, view centred on the Equator.  Reconstruction from Goodge et al. 2008.[12]
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