# Who was your Pangaean neighbor? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 17, 2012, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-your-pangaean-neighbor/641332 "2012-11-17T18:16:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [May 8, 2020, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-your-pangaean-neighbor/641332/41 "2020-05-08T21:05:51Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Geologically, I have to note that the new map I linked to had to finagle the shape of Pangaean geography somewhat to work in the modern borders of countries to make it easy for modern folks to refer to. What are now solid countries sometimes look pretty mangled in their Pangaean version. While it’s a cool map, it would have been more accurate to leave out some countries, like Panama, Costa Rica, and Iceland, that were never parts of Pangaea but originated volcanically afterward. Likewise, most of western North America including Alaska wasn’t part of Pangaea, but originated in oceanic exotic terranes that got smooshed onto the continent as it drifted westward. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2020, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-your-pangaean-neighbor/641332/42 "2020-05-08T21:40:58Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > While it’s a cool map, it would have been more accurate to not include the Great Lakes 175 million years early. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2020, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-your-pangaean-neighbor/641332/43 "2020-05-08T21:48:43Z")
Arkansas is where Arkansas is now. Our politics and culture hasn’t changed much either. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2020, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-your-pangaean-neighbor/641332/44 "2020-05-08T22:02:07Z")
I want one of those for Gondwana/Laurasia, and for Rodinia. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2020, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-your-pangaean-neighbor/641332/45 "2020-05-08T23:14:31Z")
Left coast. Nothing but the wine-dark ocean. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2020, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-your-pangaean-neighbor/641332/46 "2020-05-08T23:41:08Z")
Map doesn’t show the Bering Strait land bridge. I guess that came later. ~VOW ---
**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:** [May 9, 2020, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-your-pangaean-neighbor/641332/47 "2020-05-09T00:03:05Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > Map doesn’t show the Bering Strait land bridge. I guess that came later. As I mentioned, Alaska didn’t exist at the time Pangaea broke up. When Laurasia split up due to the opening of the North Atlantic Ocean, North America moved west and Eurasia moved east until their opposite ends collided to form Beringia. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2020, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-your-pangaean-neighbor/641332/48 "2020-05-09T01:25:23Z")
I’m on Long Island, so it looks like if the Azores didn’t get in the way, I’d be right next to that interesting spot where the map isn’t sure if the southern half of Morocco still counts as Morocco or not. On the original link, things are a little confusing. It’s not clear what I should call Pangaea because even when everything is smooshed together, there’s so much variety in flooding. ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2020, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-your-pangaean-neighbor/641332/49 "2020-05-09T13:33:49Z")
Cuba is closest, and still a straight line across water, but it couldn’t be called the Gulf of Mexico. Lake Texas? It would be a _much_ shorter paddle in my kayak than it is now 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2020, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-your-pangaean-neighbor/641332/50 "2020-05-09T16:32:22Z")
The map has Scotland being next to Iceland, though as Colibri mentions Iceland didn’t exist at the time of Pangaea, so Greenland would be the real answer. Scotland was for most of its geological history on the edge of Laurentia, which is now roughly the North American continent. It only joined with England when Pangaea was formed, and split with North America when the Atlantic rift formed much later. On the other side, Scotland is pressed up against Norway. The North Sea rift opened up at the same time as the Atlantic one. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2020, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-your-pangaean-neighbor/641332/51 "2020-05-10T00:38:37Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > I’m on Long Island, so it looks like if the Azores didn’t get in the way, The Azores are volcanic outcrops of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, whose landmasses arose from mantle magma plumes, geologically far younger than Pangaea. Gross anachronism. > [@](#): > > I’d be right next to that interesting spot where the map isn’t sure if the southern half of Morocco still counts as Morocco or not. The name is **Western Sahara.** Morocco’s occupation and rule of the territory is not internationally recognized. Morocco was even expelled from the Arab League for pulling that land grab. Spain decolonized it in a hurry as soon as Franco died and Morocco opportunistically grabbed it in a hurry [while he was still dead](https://youtu.be/axByUFSa7N8?t=57). ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2020, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-your-pangaean-neighbor/641332/52 "2020-05-10T01:36:05Z")
_Polloi kudoi_ to **Colibri** for all the geological goodness contributed to this thread! 🆒 The Pacific world gets overlooked while the focus is on Pangaea, but **Colibri** has filled in the remarkable geological activity of Pacific terranes on North America. ---
**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:** [May 10, 2020, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-your-pangaean-neighbor/641332/53 "2020-05-10T02:42:51Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > _Polloi kudoi_ to **Colibri** for all the geological goodness contributed to this thread! 🆒 The Pacific world gets overlooked while the focus is on Pangaea, but **Colibri** has filled in the remarkable geological activity of Pacific terranes on North America. For an account of how western North America was constructed, I would highly recommend John McPhee’s [_Assembling California_.](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1992/09/07/assembling-california-part-i) I also recommend the McPhee’s compilation of other books on North American geology, [Annals of the Former World.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annals_of_the_Former_World) ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2020, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-your-pangaean-neighbor/641332/54 "2020-05-11T02:13:02Z")
I’m near Spain/Portugal. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2020, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-your-pangaean-neighbor/641332/55 "2020-05-11T14:20:46Z")
I like finding the spots where 3 continents meet. [ul] [li]The tip of Florida is between South America (Suriname, French Guiana) and Africa (Sierra Leone, Guinea). [/li][li]The tip of Newfoundland is between Spain and Morocco. [/li][li]Sri Lanka is the neighbor of Mozambique and Antarctica’s Queen Maud Land. [/li][li]The tip of Western Australia is between Eastern Antarctica and Bangladesh.[/li][li]The Antarctic Peninsula and Tierra del Fuego both touch South Africa at Eastern Cape.[/li][li]Benghazi is between Greece and Turkey. But this was before Asia became a “thing.”[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-your-pangaean-neighbor/641332/56 "2020-05-12T23:22:04Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > how western North America was constructed Here is a video on what you were just talking about: [Plate Tectonic Evolution of North America](https://youtu.be/2yKNhbY3Nbk). It shows Pacific terranes accreting. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2021, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-your-pangaean-neighbor/641332/57 "2021-09-10T16:14:33Z")
Another update: [This Map Lets You Plug in Your Address to See How It’s Changed Over the Past 750 Million Years](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/map-lets-you-plug-your-address-see-how-neighborhood-has-changed-over-past-750-million-years-180971507/) ## The interactive tool enables users to home in on a specific location and visualize how it has evolved between the Cryogenian Period and the present The first time I tried this, it looked like the Washington DC area was Mauritania’s neighbor. On the second version, DC turned up next to Western Sahara. In this version, the article talks about DC next to Mauritania again. Anyhow, it’s got to be close to the border between the two countries. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2021, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-your-pangaean-neighbor/641332/58 "2021-09-11T12:08:52Z")
Well, this video shows the island (that I was asking about a decade ago) northwest of southern California turns in British Columbia. Cool that the old links are still working. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2021, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-your-pangaean-neighbor/641332/59 "2021-09-11T14:31:37Z")
As near as I can tell, southern Greenland. I am assuming that the latitude lines are at 30 and 60 degrees, north and south. Montreal is about half a degree north of 45. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-your-pangaean-neighbor/641332.md?page=2)