Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Pangaea Point of View - huh?


I have been obsessed with the word "pangaea" since I first heard it many years ago. The image it conjures for me is the whole earth as one literally and figuratively. Puzzle pieces that slide together seamlessly and answer many mysteries of this planet. The entire world connected not by email or phone or wires but by soil, vegetation, flora, fauna - every aspect of what makes this earth intriguing, valuable, and priceless - connected.

Scientifically speaking, here's the real definition: Pangaea, Pangæa, or Pangea Pangaea, Pangæa, or Pangea ( /pænˈdʒiːə/ pan-jee-ə; from Ancient Greek pan "entire", and Gaia "Earth", Latinized as Gæa) is hypothesized as a supercontinent that existed during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras about 250 million years ago, before the component continents were separated into their current configuration. The forming of supercontinents and their breaking up appears to be cyclical through Earth's 4.6 billion year history. There may have been several others before Pangaea.

Isn't that cool? The idea of one supercontinent engages my imagination is such a variety of ways. Maybe it explains why certain fossils are found on different continents where they don't seem to belong. Maybe it explains a lot of the mysteries in life.

It's mesmerizing to imagine that the entire earth, at one time at least, could have been traveled on foot. And it probably was!

So when I was trying to come up with a title for this blog... my mind kept swinging back around to "pangaea" - "entire earth". I'm probably butchering it and making some poor scientist cringe. And grammatically speaking, I'm not convinced that I'll use it correctly 100% of the time but let's just assume that it's a verb, noun, adjective - whatever way fits best in the way that I choose to use it - and that it works.

No comments: