Africa
From the perspective of geologists and paleontologists, Africa takes center stage in the physical history and development of life on Earth. Africa is the world's second largest continent. Africa possesses the world's richest and most concentrated deposits of minerals such as gold, diamonds, uranium, chromium, cobalt, and platinum. It is also the cradle of human evolution and the birthplace of many animal and plant species, and has the earliest evidence of reptiles, dinosaurs, and mammals.
Present-day Africa, occupying one-fifth of Earth's land surface, is the central remnant of the ancient southern super-continent called Gondwanaland, a landmass once made up of South America, Australia, Antarctica, India, and Africa. This massive supercontinent broke apart between 195 million and 135 million years ago, cleaved by the same geological forces that continue to transform Earth's crust today.
Plate tectonics are responsible for the rise of mountain ranges, the gradual drift of continents, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. The fracturing of Gondwanaland took place during the Jurassic Period, the middle segment of the Mesozoic Era when dinosaurs flourished on Earth. It was during the Jurassic that flowers made their first appearance, and dinosaurs like the carnivorous Allosaurus and plant eating Stegasaurus lived.
Geologically, Africa is 3.8 billion years old, which means that in its present form or joined with other continents as it was in the past, Africa has existed for four-fifths of Earth's 4.6 billion years.
This page contains 201 words.
Africa article
Read the rest of this article.
This article contains 3,320 words
(approx. 11 pages at 300 words per page).
Order our History of Africa Article
