Question

The continents began to drift apart by the end of the _______ period

Answer 1

The continents drifted apart at the end of the Permian Period. At the end of the Permian, Pangea broke up into Gondwanaland and Laurasia; two large continents. Many theories exist as to why Pangea started to split apart. Scientist know that the end of the Permian was marked by a great mass extinction of species. The Siberian Traps is an example of massive lava flows that accompanied the break up of Pangea.

Answer 2

The continents started to drift apart by the end of the Cretaceous period. The Cretaceous Period started with the Earth’s land assembled essentially into two continents namely: Laurasia (in the north) and Gondwana (in the south). The two continents were nearly separated by Tethys seaway, and the many different segments of the 2 continents had began to rift apart. North America started to pull away from Eurasia. South America begun to split off from Africa. From which, the rest were also separating: India, Australia and Antarctica.