Pangea

Flat world Continental Drift, Pangea to Present: Physical Puzzle

   These are jpeg images from the movie Pangea.mov   They can be used to make a physical puzzle.  They include images of all the continents in
(1) Pangean configuration and
(2) present configuration, plus
(3ABC) individual continental pieces,. 
My recommendation is to print out and laminate the (1) Pangea version and then cut the continents apart.  This insures that they reconstruct well.  Unfortunately this requires a large color printer.
    The (2) Present version is for your information.

    Note that there are two versions, each, of (1) and (2).  The versions marked “sm” are shrunken to fit on a standard page - unfortunately quite small.  Alternatively, the individual continents (3ABC) are page size sheets and not shrunken, so you can print them on a regular color printer and make the full sized puzzle using them.

Note that there are shape/space problems when Eurasia collides with India, Arabia, and Iberia forming the Himalayan and other mountain ranges.  This can be solved by stacking the two versions of Eurasia in (1)* so that India, Arabia, and Iberia can be inserted between the two layers.

    When I made this puzzle, I wrapped some thick, fuzzy blue cloth around a board to use as the background.  (The fuzziness makes the pieces stay put better.)

* or print out two copies of 3B, cut away the indents from one, and stack them.

Breakup of Pangea and continental drift, 200 million years ago to present.

Drawn by Tanya Atwater and animated by Ian MacMillan using Flash, with additions by Grace Giles.

   This is a special “flat earth” version of the drift of the continents, starting from the breakup of Super-continent Pangea about 200 million years ago.  The continents were hand flattened by Atwater such that they are recognizable and they fit together in their Pangean and present-day configurations. 
    The motivation of this construction is to depict the breakup and drift of rigid pieces, while obviating common problems with other depictions. (In the most common depiction, the earth’s surface is flattened via some projection such as the Mercator projection.  Unfortunately, in these projections, drifting pieces artificially change size and shape. Other versions show rigid pieces moving around the surface of the globe, but since you can only see one side, they keep drifting out of view.)

Full Downloads:

(modified October 15, 2008)

Pangea Puzzle:
FlatWorld_Puzzle_Pangea

FlatWorld_Puzzle_PangeaSm

FlatWorld_Puzzle_Present

FlatWorld_Puzzle_PresentSm

FlatWorld_Puzzle_Americas

FlatWorld_Puzzle_Eurasia

FlatWorld_Puzzle_EGondwana

Quicktime (.mov):
24 (MB)

24 (MB)

Download Page Instructions:

PC
(right click to Save Download As...)

MAC
(hold control and click then drag to Download Linked File)