The breakup of Pangaea — the Atlantic opens

About 200 million years ago North America and Africa began to pull apart, opening the Atlantic; Pangaea split into Laurasia in the north and Gondwana in the south.

About 201 million years ago the land split where North America, Africa and South America met, and vast floods of basalt poured out (the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province). With these eruptions came the end-Triassic extinction, wiping out many groups of life and leaving room for the dinosaurs.

The sea flowed into the widening rift and the Central Atlantic opened, dividing Pangaea into Laurasia (North America, Europe and Asia) in the north and Gondwana in the south. The Atlantic is still widening by a few centimetres every year; the Mid-Atlantic Ridge running down its middle is where new sea floor is born.