<p>According to a review by <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987112001570?via%3Dihub" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Nance &amp; Murphy (2013)</a>, there are five known supercontinents, from the most recent to the most ancient: </p>

<ul>
<li>Pangea (of course)</li>
<li>Pannotia (though <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/R_Nance/publication/323514106_Supercontinents_and_the_case_for_Pannotia/links/5a9d98e84585155dc184bf6d/Supercontinents-and-the-case-for-Pannotia.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">it depends on how you define supercontinent</a>), ca. 600 Ma</li>
<li>Rodinia, breakup at ca. 750 Ma (see e. g. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1083469" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Torsvik, 2003</a>)</li>
<li>Columbia (also called Nuna), ca. 1.6 Ga</li>
<li>Kenorland, ca. 2.7 Ga</li>
</ul>

<p>Some additional ones such as Vaalbara in the Archean are still mostly speculative.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-06T09:10:26.087Z
2018-05-07T11:13:47.053Z
2018-05-07T11:13:47.053Z
plannapus
<p>I know there was a Pangaea at one point in history that broke into the continents of today, but I could have sworn there was another instance in Earth's history that there was a super continent, maybe even more, so how many in total? </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-03T20:15:31.913Z
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercontinent
Santiago
<plate-tectonics><earth-history>
How many times in total has Earth formed a super continent?
John Joe
# How many times in total has Earth formed a super continent?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-05-03)

I know there was a Pangaea at one point in history that broke into the continents of today, but I could have sworn there was another instance in Earth's history that there was a super continent, maybe even more, so how many in total?

**Tags:** plate-tectonics, earth-history

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercontinent  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2018-05-06. Score: 2

According to a review by [Nance & Murphy (2013)](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987112001570?via%3Dihub), there are five known supercontinents, from the most recent to the most ancient:

* Pangea (of course)
* Pannotia (though [it depends on how you define supercontinent](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/R_Nance/publication/323514106_Supercontinents_and_the_case_for_Pannotia/links/5a9d98e84585155dc184bf6d/Supercontinents-and-the-case-for-Pannotia.pdf)), ca. 600 Ma
* Rodinia, breakup at ca. 750 Ma (see e. g. [Torsvik, 2003](http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1083469))
* Columbia (also called Nuna), ca. 1.6 Ga
* Kenorland, ca. 2.7 Ga

Some additional ones such as Vaalbara in the Archean are still mostly speculative.


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