Pannotia

Pannotia (from Greek: pan-, "all", -nótos, "south"; meaning "all southern land"), also known as Vendian supercontinent, Greater Gondwana, and the Pan-African supercontinent, was a relatively short-lived Neoproterozoic supercontinent that formed at the end of the Precambrian during the Pan-African orogeny (650–500 Ma) and broke apart 560 Ma with the opening of the Iapetus Ocean. Pannotia formed when Laurentia was located adjacent to the two major South American cratons, Amazonia and Río de la Plata. The opening of the Iapetus Ocean separated Laurentia from Baltica, Amazonia, and Río de la Plata.

Origin of concept

Piper 1976 was the first to propose a Proterozoic supercontinent preceding Pangaea, today known as Rodinia. At that time he simply referred to it as "the Proterozoic super-continent", but much later he named this "symmetrical crescent-shaped analogue of Pangaea" 'Palaeopangaea' and still insists there is neither a need nor any evidences for Rodinia or its daughter supercontinent Pannotia or a series of other proposed supercontinents since Archaean times. The existence of a Late Proterozoic supercontinent, much different from Pangaea, was, nevertheless, first proposed by McWilliams 1981 based on paleomagnetic data and the break-up of this supercontinent around 625–550 Ma was documented by Bond, Nickeson & Kominz 1984. The reconstruction of Bond et al. is virtually identical to that of Dalziel 1997 and others.