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Would Pangea have caused a wobble?

  • 15-05-2018 3:52pm
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 919 ✭✭✭


    Not sure where to post this, as it covers a bit of geology, astronomy, archeology and even palaeontology. Hope it doesn't get lost here in Popular Science...

    Anyway, it just occurred to me that when pretty-much all the Earth's continents were joined together as Pangea around 225mya, wouldn't that have made the Earth lop-sided? Continental crust is much thicker and heavier than oceanic crust, so wouldn't there be a higher concentration of surface mass on one side of the planet than the other?

    I'd have though that would have caused an imbalance in the rotational axis and/or speed. This could have a knock-on effects in weather, currents, tides etc.

    Having said that, even today the Pacific Ocean covers a third of the surface, so do we know if that vast an expanse with no continental crust causes any mass imbalance?


Comments

  • Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 90,537 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    Don't think it would change much, the continents 'float' so not that much different.

    The Ice age had Kilometres of ice in places and sea level down by hundreds of meters world wide.

    Big changes for weather were when South America separated from Antartica and North and South America joined, completely changed ocean currents that transfer heat from equator to poles.


  • Registered Users Posts: 8,242 ✭✭✭AllForIt


    The moon keeps the earth steady. If we lost the moon the earth would wobble and we would get much less consistent seasons. In fact it is though the whole climate would go to hell.


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