SSC
The vast single ocean that surrounded the ancient supercontinent Pangaea was called:
Answer (Detailed Solution Below)View answer ▾Hide ▴
Answer: Option B — Panthalassa
Detailed Solution
Panthalassa was the enormous global ocean that surrounded the supercontinent Pangaea, about 300 to 200 million years ago. It covered about 70 percent of the Earth's surface.
Meaning of the name:
"Panthalassa" comes from the Greek words "pan" (all) and "thalassa" (sea), meaning "all sea" or "universal ocean".
Pangaea and Panthalassa:
- When almost all the land was joined in a single supercontinent, Pangaea ("all lands"), the rest of the planet was covered by a single huge ocean, Panthalassa.
- A smaller sea, the Tethys, cut into Pangaea from the east, between the northern and southern parts of the supercontinent.
What happened to Panthalassa:
- As Pangaea broke apart, new oceans formed between the drifting continents, such as the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans.
- Panthalassa itself gradually shrank and evolved into the present Pacific Ocean, which is the largest ocean today.
However, the present Pacific sea floor is much younger than Panthalassa, because old ocean floor is constantly destroyed and replaced. The oldest Pacific sea floor is only about 180 million years old.
Studying Panthalassa:
Because almost all of its ancient sea floor has been destroyed by plate movements, scientists study Panthalassa mainly from rocks and fossils that were scraped off onto continents, such as in Japan and western North America.
Concept of continental drift:
The ideas of Pangaea and Panthalassa were central to the theory of continental drift, which proposed that continents slowly move across the Earth's surface.
Supercontinent cycle:
The Earth has gone through several cycles of supercontinents forming and breaking apart, each surrounded by a superocean. Before Pangaea, there was Rodinia, surrounded by an ocean called Mirovia.
Why not the other options?
- ✗The Tethys was a narrower sea between the northern and southern landmasses.
- ✗The Iapetus was an older ocean between ancient North America and Europe.
- ✗Laurentia is the ancient core of North America, not an ocean.
Quick tip
Remember: Pangaea = "all lands"; Panthalassa = "all sea", the global ocean around it; it evolved into the Pacific.
💬 Discussions on this question
Ask a doubt ›Still stuck on this question? Ask our faculty and fellow students — answers appear here.
Ask a doubtMore Oceans & Hydrosphere Questions
View all ›- Q1.The theory of continental drift was proposed by:
- Q2.The process by which water on the ground surface seeps into the soil is called:
- Q3.Which is the largest and deepest ocean in the world?
- Q4.Which is the only ocean named after a country?
- Q5.Before the formation of the Himalayas, the region where they now stand was occupied by the:
More General Knowledge Questions
- Q1.The techniques of Rasa and Bhava used in Indian classical dance trace their origin to which ancient text?Indian Dance Forms
- Q2.Lavani, Powada, Koli, Waghya Murali and Dhangari Gaja are folk dances of which state?Indian Dance Forms
- Q3.The one-act play associated with the Sattriya tradition of Assam is called:Indian Dance Forms
- Q4.Which dance form of Goa is known as the 'Warrior Dance'?Indian Dance Forms
- Q5.Manipuri dance is based on the Rasleela themes of:Indian Dance Forms
Oceans & Hydrosphere — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Oceans & Hydrosphere, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers the hydrosphere: the oceans and seas of the world, ocean relief features such as trenches and ridges, ocean currents, tides, waves, salinity, and the world's major lakes, straits, gulfs and islands. Questions commonly ask about the largest and deepest ocean (the Pacific, with the Mariana Trench), warm and cold ocean currents, the causes of tides, and which water bodies a strait connects. For example, the Palk Strait separates India and Sri Lanka, and the Strait of Gibraltar connects the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Practise the oceans and hydrosphere questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.