OUR MODEL / EARTH THROUGH TIME

From Pangea
to the Earth we know.

Explore changing shorelines, mountain ranges and ocean basins in one continuous 3D surface. Built from the published research maps, with the book guiding the questions we explore.

EARLY TRIASSIC / PANGEA

250million years ago

Geological reconstruction

Loading the reconstruction…

Continental crust · ocean-crust ageDrag to rotate · pinch or scroll to zoom

WATCH THE SURFACE CHANGE

One continental assembly.

Pangea joins much of the continental crust. The Atlantic and Indian Ocean basins have yet to develop their modern configurations.

Explore a model

Deep oceanSea levelHigh land

Relief exaggeration 12×

Shorelines follow the zero-metre contour of published elevation and ocean-depth grids. Ancient geography is reconstructed, not directly measured.

INSPECT THE SURFACE

Click the globe to inspect a location.

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Heights and depths in metres; relief exaggeration only changes the display.

THE BOOK IN 3D

The book’s before-and-after world and ocean-floor questions guide this study. This geological timeline supplies comparison geography; it does not simulate the book’s proposed impact.

Read the book’s before-and-after passage →Open the book’s impact model →

SEPARATE RESEARCH GLOBESTharp · modern ocean floor ↗PALEOMAP · original dated maps ↗

Open either reference independently. Our derived transitions are shown here.

Sources & how the surface moves

The dated terrain fields are estimates of ancient topography, bathymetry and sea level. Their 0.5° display sampling limits shoreline detail. Present-day PALEOMAP terrain is the same dataset’s endpoint; Tharp and NOAA remain separate modern comparisons.

The material study uses a different reconstruction and reference frame. It is shown on its own, never overlaid on PALEOMAP shorelines. It includes submerged continental basement and incomplete ancient patches.

Derived surface method & limitations ↗

Scotese & Wright (2018), v2 · CC BY 4.0 ↗
Müller material study · derived data CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗

Speed Loading data

Geological time · 250 million years compressed into a short presentation. Pause and scrub to compare stages.

TWO MAPS / THE RESEARCH FOUNDATION