Antarctica Pearl Fashion Jewelry 52

Antarctica Pearl Fashion Jewelry.

By Aamir Mannan.

History

Around 200 million years ago, Antarctica was joined with Australia, Africa, South America, India and New Zealand in the supercontinent Gondwana. Ten million years later, Gondwana began the enormously slow process of breaking into the pieces we recognize today, and the continents, subcontinent and islands began moving into their present positions. By about 70 million years ago, the continents were becoming widely separated and what is now known as the 

Drake Passage opened. After making its final detachment from the Australian continent, about 40 million years ago, Antarctica settled into its present polar position and began to cool dramatically.

Among the fossil evidence found in Antarctica that clearly supports the ­supercontinent theory is a deciduous conifer (Glossopteris), a fern (Dicroidium) and a terrestrial reptile (Lystrosaurus). All of these species lived on Gondwana and their fossil remains have been found in rocks of the same age in such widely separated locales as India, South America, Australia, Africa and Antarctica. Because Glossopteris’ seeds and Dicroidium’s spores could not have been blown, and Lystrosaurus could not have swum across the oceans that separate these continents, their fossilized remains offer certain proof that the continents were all once united.