Final answer:
Pangaea was a supercontinent that existed around 300 to 200 million years ago, and the theory of its existence was proposed by Alfred Wegener in 1915. It was characterized by a dry climate with extreme temperatures and played a crucial role in the evolution of plant and animal adaptations. Wegener's theory of continental drift, evidenced by the fit of continents and fossil records, was a precursor to the modern theory of plate tectonics.
Step-by-step explanation:
The concept of Pangaea features prominently in the study of geographical history and plate tectonics. Pangaea, often referred to as Pangea, was a supercontinent that existed approximately 300 to 200 million years ago during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras. German meteorologist Alfred Wegener first introduced the concept of continental drift in 1912, and by 1915 he proposed that all the continents were previously one giant landmass known as Pangaea. Evidence for this theory emerged from the jigsaw puzzle fit of continents, fossil records, and geological similarities across disparate land masses.
Reconstructing Pangaea involves piecing together continents like a puzzle based on continental shelf edges and matching ancient fossil evidence. Paleoclimatic evidence points to extreme temperatures and a dry climate on Pangaea, setting the stage for evolutionary adaptations like waxy leaves and leathery skin among plants and animals. Wegener's groundbreaking hypothesis laid the groundwork for the modern theory of plate tectonics, with Pangaea being a central feature of this model.