# Question about Rodinia and/or Pangaea **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 29, 2005, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-rodinia-and-or-pangaea/296714 "2005-03-29T02:22:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-rodinia-and-or-pangaea/296714/1 "2005-03-29T02:22:30Z")
I searched for this and I don’t think it’s been addressed in any previous Straightdope threads, and I can’t seem to find the answer on line. I’m just currious about what terrain existed on either super continent. I’m assuming in Rodinia there was probably just mountains and plains probably? What about the time when Pangaea came into existance, did things like forests or jungles exist? What about desserts? If not, how long ago did the varrious terrains, forests, jungles, plains, desserts, tundra, and valleys come into existance? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-rodinia-and-or-pangaea/296714/2 "2005-03-29T02:59:23Z")
> [@Master Control](#): > > I searched for this and I don’t think it’s been addressed in any previous Straightdope threads, and I can’t seem to find the answer on line. > > I’m just currious about what terrain existed on either super continent. I’m assuming in Rodinia there was probably just mountains and plains probably? > What about the time when Pangaea came into existance, did things like forests or jungles exist? What about desserts? > If not, how long ago did the varrious terrains, forests, jungles, plains, desserts, tundra, and valleys come into existance? > Thanks. Pangaea had an icecap centered on the South Pole at the time for a large part of its existence, which was presumably surrounded by tundra. It had all the **topographic** features of modern continents: Mountains, foothills, piedmont, plateaux, cuestas, deserts, rock deserts, presumably intermontane river valleys, coastal plains, fjordland, etc. Ecological features were of course different, because plant life was rapidly evolving, and neither grasses nor any angiosperms (flowering plants) had evolved during its existence. It would take a short course in paleobotany to cover what did exist, but suffice it to say that fern/cycad-type tropical “jungles” (i.e., jungles in popular parlance but not to ecologists) were present. Ground cover on plains and plateaux is purely hypothetical, but was probably comprised largely of club mosses, horsetails, ferns, and mosses and liverworts, not far different from what grows on infertile areas like cinder piles and some railway embankments today. I believe conifers came into existence towards the end of Pangaea. Rodinia did have a large icecap as well. Any parts not icecap or tundra were barren ground, presumably with topographic features, but easily eroded, as land plants had not yet evolved. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-rodinia-and-or-pangaea/296714/3 "2005-03-29T03:03:36Z")
Thanks for the info, and one last question. > [@Polycarp](#): > > Rodinia did have a large icecap as well. Any parts not icecap or tundra were barren ground, presumably with topographic features, but easily eroded, as land plants had not yet evolved. Would the land be mostly composed of, sand, mud, that sort of thing? I assume soil wouldn’t have existed since there weren’t any plants, right? ---
**Author:** ![Doobieous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@Doobieous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doobieous)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-rodinia-and-or-pangaea/296714/4 "2005-03-29T04:38:58Z")
> [@Master Control](#): > > Thanks for the info, and one last question. > Would the land be mostly composed of, sand, mud, that sort of thing? I assume soil wouldn’t have existed since there weren’t any plants, right? Without plants you wouldn’t have humus – organic matter, but there would be clays and silts as these come from the break down of rocks. The soild would be very mineral, but it would lack all the stuff that organic matter provides. You’d probably not have very acidic soil, as it’s often plant acids (tannins) that acidify soils. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-rodinia-and-or-pangaea/296714/5 "2005-03-29T07:01:47Z")
Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Kegg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Kegg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kegg)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-rodinia-and-or-pangaea/296714/6 "2005-03-29T08:27:08Z")
Are all of these RX only?? * * * Spellling and grammer subject to change without notice. ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-rodinia-and-or-pangaea/296714/7 "2005-03-29T09:28:20Z")
> [@Kegg](#): > > Are all of these RX only??. Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-rodinia-and-or-pangaea/296714/8 "2005-03-29T11:21:06Z")
> [@Master Control](#): > > What about the time when Pangaea came into existance, did things like forests or jungles exist? What about desserts? Desserts? There wasn’t even a main course! ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-rodinia-and-or-pangaea/296714/9 "2005-03-29T13:57:33Z")
It is thought that a relatively large part of Pangea was arid, with a “continental” type climate, since so much of it would have been far inland and away from any coast. Think Gobi Desert or inland Australia. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-rodinia-and-or-pangaea/296714/10 "2005-03-29T14:14:37Z")
Any notion if there would have been lakes, and how many/how large?? (Anything on the scale of the great lakes or larger? 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-rodinia-and-or-pangaea/296714/11 "2005-03-29T14:31:53Z")
> [@Fiver](#): > > Desserts? There wasn’t even a main course! So there’s where my missing s is. I’ll take it back now, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-rodinia-and-or-pangaea/296714/12 "2005-03-29T14:40:08Z")
> [@chrisk](#): > > Any notion if there would have been lakes, and how many/how large?? (Anything on the scale of the great lakes or larger? 🙂 ) That sort of thing depends very much on the relationship between rainfall and evaporation. It’s likely that Pangea at times would have had large areas of internal drainage like the Great Basin. It is more likely that such regions would have had something like the Caspian or Aral Seas, if they had much surface water at all. ---
**Author:** ![Doobieous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@Doobieous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doobieous)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-rodinia-and-or-pangaea/296714/13 "2005-03-30T00:37:05Z")
> [@chrisk](#): > > Any notion if there would have been lakes, and how many/how large?? (Anything on the scale of the great lakes or larger? 🙂 ) Sure there would be lakes. In any area where the water doesn’t evaporate fully during the year, or gets enough input from things like rivers and streams there would be. Areas where there’s an impermeable layer are likely to hold water, or places where the land is lower than the surrounding water table as well. Plants do alter the landscape, but they really don’t have much effect in regard to things like lakes and rivers and streams. They _can_ cause ponds and shallow lakes to flll in (through rotting and filling the lake with organic matter, creating things like peat bogs). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-rodinia-and-or-pangaea/296714/14 "2005-03-30T00:45:21Z")
What’s “RX”? ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-rodinia-and-or-pangaea/296714/15 "2005-03-30T16:03:21Z")
Apparently they were continents that could only be prescribed by a physician.