The earth is a living organism, and it’s not only about the flora and fauna on its surface, but it's also about geological processes constantly happening below and above its crust. Tectonic plates movement and mantle convection forces combined first caused continents to merge together, and subsequently led to the breakup of large masses of land and pushed them away from one another. In other words, the same forces which created Pangea, millions of years later caused its disintegration. These processes are still in operation.

The split of Pangea started in the Triassic period about 200 million years ago as a result of rift processes. Mantle convection caused new material to surface between the Earth’s tectonic plates in places called rift zones. These zones in turn caused landmasses to be pushed away from the rifts. Fragments of the supercontinent started to shift away from one another. The northern supercontinent Laurasia and the southern supercontinent Gondwana were formed when Pangea started breaking up into two parts. In between the areas of land that moved away from one another, new basins formed and oceans began to appear.

During the early Jurassic period, further breakup of large pieces of land occurred. The Gulf of Mexico opened in the new rift between North America and what is now the Yucatan Peninsula. Laurasia split into North America and Eurasia, and Gondwanaland produced Africa, Antarctica, Australia, and South America, with some of the pieces rotating slightly as they separated. New oceans emerged. Initially, the North Atlantic was rather narrow. Later, when South America separated from southern Africa, the South Atlantic was formed. The climate was warm, and scientists found no evidence of glaciation. There still wasn’t any land near the poles, and no extensive ice caps existed. The Jurassic geological record in western Europe shows that much of the continent was submerged under shallow tropical seas.

Parts of what used to be the Central Pangea Mountains are now found on different continents under names such as the Appalachians in North America, and the Atlas Mountains in North Africa. These are categorised as old mountains. Some of the mountain ranges we know today did not exist at the time of Pangea. The Himalayas are a good example. They started to form when India collided with Asia about 50 million years ago, so relatively recently in comparison to when Pangea came into existence. One of the reasons the Himalayas are so high is the fact that they are fairly young and haven’t had time to erode yet.

About 35 million years ago, continents reached their current positions. However, it must be remembered that the process of drifting hasn’t finished. Continents continue to move. Nowadays Australia is slowly moving towards Asia, and the eastern part of Africa is gradually separating from the rest of the continent. The current movements of continental plates make the Atlantic Ocean larger and the Pacific Ocean smaller. Scientists make some predictions regarding what the map of the world will look like in the distant future. So, if the continents continue to move in the directions they are now, the western part of Africa will rotate clockwise and crash into Europe. That will very likely cause the creation of some great mountain ranges. Australia will be located farther north, while New Zealand will move farther south.