The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World: The Definitive Dinosaur Encyclopedia with Stunning Illustrations, Embark on a Prehistoric Quest!

by Steve Brusatte

final 30 million years of the Triassic, great geological forces were tugging on Pangea from both the east and west. These forces—a planet-scale cocktail of gravity, heat, and pressure—are strong enough to make continents move over time. Because the pull was coming from two opposite directions, Pangea began to stretch and gradually become thinner, each small earthquake causing another tear. Imagine Pangea as a giant pizza, being torn apart by two hungry friends at opposite ends of the table: the crust becomes thinner until there is a rupture and it breaks into two. The same thing happened with the supercontinent. After a few tens of millions of years of slow and steady tug-of-war, east versus west, the cracks reached the surface, and the giant landmass began to unzip down its middle.