Rodinia is a continental civilization. Formation and disintegration of the supercontinent Rodinia Rodinia continent

Also taken from Russian. Rodinia is often considered the oldest known supercontinent, but its position and shape is still a matter of controversy. Geophysicists suggest that other supercontinents existed before Rodinia: Kenorland - maximum assembly ~ 2.75 billion years ago, Nuna (Columbia, Hudsonland) - maximum assembly ~ 1.8 billion years ago. After the collapse of Rodinia, the continents merged into the supercontinent Pannotia. After the collapse of Pannotia, the continents merged into the supercontinent Pangea and disintegrated again.

It is assumed that in the future the continents will once again gather into a supercontinent called Pangea Ultima.

Estimated location of the continents

Noticeable coincidences at the edges of the plates of South America and Antarctica suggest that these two continents were connected in the Proterozoic. To the north of them were, apparently, Australia and India. North America with Greenland communicated with Europe. During the collision of Europe and Asia, the Ural Mountains arose, which today are one of the oldest mountain ranges and, due to erosion, have an incomparably lower height than after formation.

According to one of the paleoclimatic reconstructions (the “Snowball Earth” hypothesis, common in modern science), during the existence of Rodinia, that is, about 850-635 million years ago, a global ice age began on the planet, which ended only when Rodinia split. The geochronological period, called cryogeny, was presumably characterized by the fact that most of Rodinia was located near the equator. In the Ediacaran, 600 million years ago, when the fragments of Rodinia dispersed to the poles, multicellular simple life began to develop on them, and Mirovia turned into the Panthalassa and Pan African oceans.

In February 2013, an article was published in the journal Nature Geoscience, which reported that geologists had discovered sand containing zircon minerals on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, which could indirectly be considered the remains of Rodinia.

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An excerpt characterizing Rodinia

The four chuckled defiantly. One of them, the tallest, pulled out a narrow knife, brazenly brandishing it, went to Svetodar ... And then Beloyar, squeaking in fright, wriggled out of his grandfather's hands holding him, and darting like a bullet towards the man with the knife, began to beat painfully on his knees caught on I run like a heavy stone. The stranger roared in pain and, like a fly, threw the boy away from him. But the trouble was that the "comers" were still standing at the very entrance to the cave... And the stranger threw Beloyar exactly in the direction of the entrance... Shouting thinly, the boy rolled over his head and flew into the abyss like a light ball.. It took only a few short seconds, and Svetodar did not have time ... Blinded from pain, he extended his hand to the man who had hit Beloyar - he, without making a sound, flew a couple of steps in the air and, crashing his head against the wall, slid down with a heavy bag onto a stone floor. His "partners", seeing such a sad end to their leader, retreated in a bunch into the inside of the cave. And then, Svetodar made a single mistake... Wanting to see if Beloyar was alive, he moved too close to the cliff and turned away from the killers only for a moment. Immediately, one of them, jumping up from behind with lightning, struck him in the back with a sharp kick with his foot ... Svetodar's body flew into the abyss after little Beloyar ... It was all over. There was nothing else to look at. Vile "little men", pushing each other, quickly got out of the cave...
Some time later, a blond little head appeared above the cliff at the entrance. The child carefully climbed out to the edge of the ledge, and when he saw that there was no one inside, he sobbed sadly... Apparently, all the wild fear and resentment, and maybe bruises, poured out in a waterfall of tears, washing away the experience... He cried bitterly and for a long time, himself saying to himself, angry and sorry, as if grandfather could hear ... as if he could return to save him ...
- I told you - this cave is evil! .. I told ... I told you! - convulsively sobbing, the kid lamented - Well, why didn’t you listen to me! And what should I do now?.. Where should I go now?..
Tears flowed down dirty cheeks in a burning stream, tearing apart a small heart... Beloyar didn't know if his beloved grandfather was still alive... Didn't know if the evil people would come back? He was just scared as hell. And there was no one to comfort him... no one to protect him...
And Svetodar lay motionless at the very bottom of a deep crack. His wide-open, clear blue eyes, seeing nothing, looked at the sky. He went far, far away, where Magdalena was waiting for him... and his beloved father with kind Radan... and sister Vesta... and his gentle, affectionate Margarita with her daughter Maria... and unfamiliar granddaughter Tara... And that's all- all those who died long ago defending their native and beloved world from non-humans who called themselves humans...
And here, on the ground, in a lonely empty cave, on a round pebble, hunched over, a man was sitting... He looked quite small. And very scared. Bitterly, weeping angrily, he furiously rubbed his evil tears with his fists and swore in his childish soul that such a day would come when he would grow up, and then he would certainly correct the “wrong” world of adults ... Make it joyful and good! This little man was Beloyar... a great descendant of Radomir and Magdalena. Small, lost in the world of big people, crying Man...

Everything I heard from the lips of the North once again flooded my heart with sadness ... I asked myself again and again - are all these irreparable losses really natural? .. Is there really no way to rid the world of evil spirits and malice ?!. All this terrible machine of global killing made the blood run cold, leaving no hope of salvation. But at the same time, a powerful stream of life-giving force flowed from somewhere into my wounded soul, opening every cell in it, every breath to fight against traitors, cowards and scoundrels! .. With those who killed the pure and brave, without hesitation, by any means, if only to destroy everyone who could be dangerous for them ...

Since childhood, we have all become accustomed to the most popular versions of the world map, the projections of which are called the Mercator projection and the equal area projection. Gerard Mercator used such a projection back in 1569, later named after him. In modern times, such maps are used not only for the theoretical study of geography (in schools, universities), but also for various types of navigation (sea navigation, air navigation). But do not forget that what we are used to may differ from what people living on the other side of the planet are used to.

Mercator projection

Equal area projection

Projections are designed to make it easier for a person to understand the real location of the continents and parts of the world. Of course, the closest to reality is the globe, since it repeats the shape of the Earth, and in practice, the distortions on the globe seem to be the most minimal. But further we will talk not so much about the type of image of the earth's surface - projections, which have their own advantages and disadvantages, but about the very form of this surface - the continents.

As already mentioned in the flags of South America, the worldview of the peoples of different continents and, perhaps, even natural zones, geographical zones, varies greatly. This is quite likely due to the influence of various natural factors on a person, but the most interesting thing is that even the very division of the planet into continents differs depending on culture and country. So, it is customary to distinguish five different types of divisions of different detail, in which various continents are distinguished, such as: America, Afro-Eurasia, Eurasia, Australia, Antarctica, Africa, Europe, Asia, South America and North America.

The division into four continents is based on the so-called "Old" and "New" world. During the era of the "Great geographical discoveries", it was customary to unite Africa, Europe and Asia into a single ecumene, that is, a large space mastered by people, which was called Afro-Eurasia

The five-continent model evolved from the six-continent model. Differs only in the united Americas

Model with six continents with united Eurasia. Mainly used in Eastern Europe, Russia and Japan

The model with six continents with the United Americas is used mainly in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Romania, Latin America, Greece and some other European countries.

The seven mainland model is used in countries such as: China, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, partly in Western Europe, Australia and the UK

It is amazing how different divisions we can observe among the inhabitants of different countries. Which once again convinces us how much O th degree thoughts and actions depend on point of view.

Complicating the fission situation is the fact that the Earth was not always the same as it is today. Therefore, I would like to present a brief digression from the distant past to the present in the context of the formation of the earth's surface and tell about the largest continents of our planet throughout its existence, which are commonly called supercontinents.

Supercontinent - a large massif of the earth's crust, containing almost the entire continental crust of the planet. Thus, the supercontinent is solid, homogeneous and indivisible into parts, perhaps with the exception of some small islands.

During the existence of the Earth, seven different supercontinents have passed their life path on its surface, which we will now get to know.

Vaalbara

The first supercontinent is the most ancient, the time of existence is presumably 3.6–2.8 billion years ago, that is, from the end of the Eoarchean era to the beginning of the Neoarchean era. But its existence is only a theory.

During the existence of the supercontinent Vaalbara, there was much less land than now. The dimensions and shape of this formation are not exactly known and are mostly only hypothetical.

The lifetime of the supercontinents Vaalbara and Ur.

The name of the Vaalbara supercontinent comes from the endings of the two oldest cratons on the planet: Kaapvaal (located mainly in South Africa) and Pilbara (a region of the same name in Western Australia). On a modern photograph, the Earths are highlighted in red.

Vaalbara cratons on present-day Earth

As you can see, now there are more than eight thousand kilometers from one craton to another! But it was not always so.

Ur

The next supposed supercontinent formed about three billion years ago! It is called - Ur, from the German prefix "ur", which means "original", "primary source". Portions of this supercontinent are now parts of Australia, Africa (Madagascar) and India.

Something like this could look like Ur in Archaea

Despite the fact that Ur is called a supercontinent, its size is much smaller than modern Australia. This terrestrial formation is younger than Vaalbara by about half a billion years, but it is believed that Ur is not a continuation or successor of Vaalbara.

Kenorland

This supercontinent formed in the Neoarchean. The name was given to him in accordance with the Kenoran phase of folding. It is believed that Kenorland was located only in low latitudes.

Time of existence of Kenorland

This is what Kenorland looked like. Its parts were modern continents marked in the image, as well as cratons

Kenorland was formed from the union of several cratons (including Kaapval and Pilbara). When this supercontinent began to disintegrate, the first major glaciation on Earth formed.

Colombia (Nuna)

Columbia existed from 1.8 to 1.5 billion years ago, that is, from the beginning of the Staterian period to the end of the Calimian.

The time of existence of the supercontinent Columbia

The supercontinent is thought to have been about 12,900 kilometers north to south and about 4,800 km at its widest point from west to east.

Colombia looks like this

This supercontinent gradually began to tear apart from 1.6 billion years ago to 1.2 billion years ago.

Rodinia

The supercontinent existed in the Proterozoic, formed about 1.1 billion years ago, and broke up about 750 million years ago. The giant landmass was called Rodinia from the Russian "motherland" or "to give birth", and the ocean of that time was called Mirovia from the Russian "world" or "world".

The time of existence of Rodinia

The map of the Earth during the existence of Rodinia was already approaching the similarity of the modern one.

Rodinia, view from the South Pole

By the end of the Tonian period, the Earth began to turn into a snowball. The theory of "Earth-snowball" refers to this period.

Pannotia

This supercontinent was formed 650 million years ago and lasted until 540 million years ago. The formation of Pannotia was associated with the division of Rodinia into Proto-Gondwana and Proto-Laurasia. Since the main part of the land at that time was just near the poles, it is believed that glaciation reached its maximum exactly about 600 million years ago.

The time of existence of Pannotia

Also, during the existence of Pannotia, there were two proto-oceans - Panthalassa and the Pan-African Ocean, which surrounded the supercontinent during its closest approach.

Pannotia from the South Pole

At the end of its existence, Pannotia broke up into continents: Gondwana, Baltica, Siberia and Laurentia. Later, these continents will form the last supercontinent at the moment.

Pangea

Pangea existed at the end of the Paleozoic and the beginning of the Mesozoic, that is, 300 million years ago. At that time, the supercontinent united all modern continents into one. Many modern mountain systems originated precisely then from the collision of continents and lithospheric plates.

Time of existence of Pangea

The outlines of Pangea are the most accurate, since the existence of this supercontinent is not as ancient as the previous ones.

At the end of its existence, Pangea was divided into northern and southern continents - Laurasia and Gondwana. From Laurasia came modern Eurasia and North America, and from Gondwana - Africa, South America, India, Australia and Antarctica.

Modern Earth is the result of many complex geological and physical processes. But the form that the Earth assumed in the last periods of its existence made it possible for life to exist on Earth. The answer must be sought from here and remember that the formation of this very life is an incredibly long process stretched out over billions of years. It is hardly possible to imagine such a number of years, but one can get the closest idea of this process.

Planet Earth is beautiful and amazing, and in the modern world we have even more opportunities to see this.

At the end of the early Proterozoic, 1150 million years ago, a new giant continent was formed on Earth, which almost completely emerged from under the sea level. It was named Rodinia and probably represented a high-mountain plateau (on average, about three kilometers above sea level) without particularly pronounced peaks. The formation of such a supercontinent suggests that the rest of the Earth must have concentrated a huge mass of water displaced from the mobile belts. Therefore, we can talk not only about the formation of Rodinia, but also about the appearance of the giant ocean of Mirovia, which, despite its vast size, was much smaller than the modern ocean.
Mirovia is a hypothetical world ocean that washed the supercontinent Rodinia in the Proterozoic era (1100-800 million years ago). About 750 million years ago, most of Mirovia was covered with ice 2 km thick. 600 million years ago, when the continent of Rodinia began to break up, other ancient oceans began to form from Mirovia. At the same time, more and more free oxygen molecules began to appear in the Earth's atmosphere, mainly due to photochemical reactions in its upper layers and photosynthesis of blue-green algae.
The location and shape of the supercontinent Rodinia is still the subject of heated debate in the scientific community. Certain coincidences at the edges of the plates of North America and Antarctica made it possible to put forward the assumption that these two continents were interconnected during the Proterozoic era. North America with Greenland at that time communicated with Europe, which, in turn, collided with Asia. At the site of this collision, the Ural Mountains grew - today one of the oldest mountain ranges on the planet, although they have somewhat lost their original height after prolonged erosion.
Approximately 800-900 million years ago, Rodinia began to split under the influence of peculiar hot spots - magmatic emissions that cracked the earth's crust and threw a huge amount of lava onto its surface. The split of the supercontinent was accompanied by the expansion of the oceans and seas, as a result of which the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere increased.
Due to heavy rains, carbon, which was in the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide, ended up in the oceans and settled in sedimentary deposits in the form of carbonates. Continental sedimentary formations of the Proterozoic era are colored red, which indicates the presence of ferric iron, and hence the presence of free oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere.
The mainland Rodinia broke up into several separate continents and small islands. Amazonia (which included Guiana and Central Brazil), North America, East Antarctica, India, Central Africa, West Africa, South Africa (Kalahari), Western Australia, Siberia, Eastern Europe, South China and the Tarim were formed. Extensive basalt deposits formed from giant lava flows on the surface of the new continents.

The continents, scattered more or less evenly across the planet, began to slowly drift across the Proterozoic ocean, until they again began to gather into a single continent. It is known that after Rodinia, they managed to once again unite into a supercontinent called Pangea and disintegrate again. Archean and Proterozoic plates not only welded together many times, but also often split, forming wide faults. These large cracks - rifts - were subsequently filled with volcanic sedimentary rocks. It is curious that in the future, after about 200-300 million years, all the continents of our time can again gather into a supercontinent called Pangea Ultima (Last Pangea). This hypothesis is based on several scientific facts. In particular, a study of the history of plate movement on our planet showed that with a frequency of 500-600 million years, blocks of continental crust are assembled into a single supercontinent. The direction of movement of modern continents was also determined, which made it possible to assume the time of their collision.
The study of the directions of movement of the continents paints us the following picture. After 250 million years, North America will turn counterclockwise, and Alaska will be in the subtropical zone. Eurasia will continue to rotate clockwise, so the British Isles will be located near the North Pole, and Siberia - in the subtropics. In place of the Mediterranean Sea, the highest mountain ranges are formed, similar to the Himalayas. But back to the supercontinent Rodinia, which began to break apart 800-900 million years ago. Its decay led to a gradual decrease in the average temperature on the surface of our planet by about 8 °C.
The disintegration of the supercontinent, which lasted for 30-40 million years, was accompanied by a reduction in the amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere. Huge glaciers began to form on the planet, the surface of which began to reflect even more sunlight into outer space. Geophysicist Yves Goddery of France's National Center for Scientific Research notes:
“Glaciation of the Earth was caused by a significant decrease in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It, in turn, was the result of the breakup of the supercontinent Rodinia, whose center was then in the equatorial zone and which stretched from 60 degrees north latitude to 60 degrees south latitude.
The average temperature on the planet dropped to -40 °C, at the Earth's poles it was much lower - up to -80 °C. But despite the large-scale glaciation, the processes of formation of the continental crust and active volcanic activity continued.
Powerful volcanoes emitted carbon dioxide into the atmosphere of the planet, so after a certain period of time the average temperature rose to 25-30 ° C. The climate on Earth has become very hot. It should be noted that such large-scale glaciations were not repeated in the further history of our planet, since the newly formed continents no longer had an exclusively equatorial configuration.
So, in the longest time in the geological history of the Earth - the Proterozoic - intensive mountain-building processes and tectonic movements took place. As a result, the formation of many platforms of the earth's crust, limited by mountain-folded areas, was completed. It is these vast and inactive areas that create a solid continental framework.

Or "give birth") - hypothetical, presumably existing in -.

It originated about 1.1 billion years ago and broke up about 750 million years ago. At that time, the Earth consisted of one giant piece of land and one giant ocean, which received the name. Rodinia is often considered the oldest known supercontinent, but its position and shape is still a matter of controversy. Geophysicists suggest that other supercontinents existed before Rodinia: - maximum assembly ≈2.75 billion years ago, (Columbia, Hudsonland) - maximum assembly ≈1.8 billion years ago. After the collapse Rodinia to Proto-Laurasia (northern continent) and Proto-Gondwana (southern continent), the continents again united into a supercontinent ≈600 to 540 million years ago. After the breakup, the continents merged into a supercontinent and disintegrated again into their current state.

It is assumed that in the future the continents will once again gather into a supercontinent called.

Estimated location of the continents

Noticeable coincidences at the edges of the plates suggest that these two continents were connected in the Proterozoic. To the north of them were, apparently, and. North America reported to . During the collision of Europe, they arose, which today are one of the oldest mountain ranges and, as a result, have an incomparably lower height than after formation.

According to one of the paleoclimatic reconstructions (the hypothesis "", widespread in modern science), during the existence of Rodinia, that is, about 850-635 million years ago, a global ice age began on the planet, which ended only when Rodinia split. The geochronological period, which received the name, was presumably characterized by the fact that most of Rodinia was located near. In, 600 million years ago, when the fragments of Rodinia dispersed to the poles, simple life began to develop on them, and Mirovia turned into oceans and.

In February 2013, an article was published in the journal Nature Geoscience reporting that geologists had discovered mineral-bearing sand on an island in the Indian Ocean, which could indirectly be considered the remains of Rodinia.

In 2017, it was suggested that the breakup of the supercontinent Rodinia was caused by an indirect collision of the Earth and. This could have happened about 750 million years ago, as a result of passing through one of. The estimated impact area fell on.

Notes

Li, Z. X.; Bogdanova, S. V.; Collins, A. S.; Davidson, A.; B. De Waele, R. E. Ernst, I. C. W. Fitzsimons, R. A. Fuck, D. P. Gladkochub, J. Jacobs, K. E. Karlstrom, S. Lul, L. M. Natapov, V. Pease, S. A. Pisarevsky, K. Thrane and V. Vernikovsky (2008). "Assembly, configuration, and break-up history of Rodinia: A synthesis". Precambrian Research 160: 179—210
N. V. Lubnina: "East European craton from Neoarchean to Paleozoic according to paleomagnetic data" (indefinite) (unavailable link). Retrieved 9 August 2011.

Continent(from lat. continens, genitive case continentis) - a large massif of the earth's crust, a significant part of which is located above the level of the world ocean (land), and the rest of the peripheral part is below sea level. The continent also includes islands located on the underwater periphery. In addition to the concept of a continent, the term mainland is also used.

Terminology

Mainland- a vast expanse of land washed by the seas and oceans (or Land, land - as opposed to water or islands). In Russian, the words mainland and continent have the same meaning.

From a tectonic point of view, continents are sections of the lithosphere that have a continental structure of the earth's crust.

There are several continental models in the world (see below). On the territory of the post-Soviet space, the model of six continents with a divided America is adopted as the main one.

There is also a similar concept of part of the world. The division into continents is made on the basis of separation by water space, and parts of the world are rather a historical and cultural concept. Thus, the continent of Eurasia consists of two parts of the world - Europe and Asia. And part of the world America is located on two continents - South America and North America. In other cases, parts of the world coincide with the above continents.

The border between Europe and Asia runs along the Ural Mountains, then the Ural River to the Caspian Sea, the Kuma and Manych rivers to the mouth of the Don River and further along the shores of the Black and Mediterranean Seas. The Europe-Asia border described above is not indisputable. This is just one of several options accepted in the world.

In geology, the continent is also often referred to as the underwater margin of the continent, including the islands located on it.

In English and some other languages, the word continent denotes both continents and parts of the world.

Continental models

In the world, different countries estimate the number of continents differently. Number of continents in different traditions

4 continents: Afro-Eurasia, America, Antarctica, Australia
5 continents: Africa, Eurasia, America, Antarctica, Australia
6 continents: Africa, Europe, Asia, America, Antarctica, Australia
6 continents: Africa, Eurasia, North America, South America, Antarctica, Australia
7 continents: Africa, Europe, Asia, North America, South America, Antarctica, Australia

The seven continents model is popular in China, India, partly in Western Europe and in English-speaking countries.

The six continent model with America united (we call it "Parts of the World") is popular in Spanish speaking countries and parts of Eastern Europe including Greece with its five continent model (five populated continents).

Comparison of area and population

Continent	Length (km from east to west, and from south to north, along the periphery)	Share of sushi	Population	Share of population
Afro-Eurasia

Oceania

- the largest and only continent on Earth, washed by four oceans: in the south - the Indian, in the north - the Arctic, in the west - the Atlantic, in the east - the Pacific. The continent is located in the Northern Hemisphere between approximately 9° W. and 169° W. while some of the Eurasian islands are located in the Southern Hemisphere. Most of continental Eurasia lies in the Eastern Hemisphere, although the extreme western and eastern ends of the mainland are in the Western Hemisphere. Eurasia stretches from west to east for 10.5 thousand km, from north to south - for 5.3 thousand km, with an area of 53.6 million km2. This is more than a third of the total land area of the planet. The area of the Eurasian islands is approaching 2.75 million km2.

Contains two parts of the world: Europe and Asia. The border line between Europe and Asia is most often drawn along the eastern slopes of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Emba River, the northwestern coast of the Caspian Sea, the Kuma River, the Kuma-Manych Depression, the Manych River, the eastern coast of the Black Sea, the southern coast of the Black Sea, the Strait Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, the Dardanelles, the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas, the Strait of Gibraltar. This division has developed historically. Naturally, there is no sharp boundary between Europe and Asia. The continent is united by the continuity of land, the current tectonic consolidation and the unity of numerous climatic processes.

(English North America, French Amérique du Nord, Spanish América del Norte, Norteamérica, Ast. Ixachitlān Mictlāmpa) is one of the continents of planet Earth, located in the north of the Western Hemisphere of the Earth. North America is washed from the west by the Pacific Ocean with the Bering Sea, Alaska and California bays, from the east by the Atlantic Ocean with the Labrador, Caribbean, St. Lawrence and Mexican seas, from the north by the Arctic Ocean with the Beaufort, Baffin, Greenland and Hudson Bay seas. From the west, the continent is separated from Eurasia by the Bering Strait. In the south, the border between North and South America runs through the Isthmus of Panama.

North America also includes numerous islands: Greenland, the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, the Aleutian Islands, Vancouver Island, the Alexander Archipelago and others. The area of North America, together with the islands, is 24.25 million km2, without the islands, 20.36 million km2.

(Spanish América del Sur, Sudamérica, Suramérica, port. América do Sul, English South America, Dutch Zuid-Amerika, French Amérique du Sud, Guar. Ñembyamérika, Quechua Urin Awya Yala, Urin Amerika) - the southern continent in America, located mainly in the Western and Southern hemispheres of planet Earth, however, part of the continent is also located in the Northern Hemisphere. It is washed in the west by the Pacific Ocean, in the east by the Atlantic, from the north it is limited by North America, the border between the Americas runs along the Isthmus of Panama and the Caribbean Sea.

South America also includes various islands, most of which belong to the countries of the continent. Caribbean territories belong to North America. The South American countries that border the Caribbean - including Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana - are known as Caribbean South America.

The most important river systems in South America are the Amazon, Orinoco and Parana, with a total basin of 7,000,000 km2 (the area of South America is 17,800,000 km2). Most of the lakes in South America are located in the Andes, the largest of which and the world's highest navigable lake is Titicaca, on the border of Bolivia and Peru. The largest in area is Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela, it is also one of the oldest on the planet.

Angel Falls, the highest waterfall in the world, is located in South America. On the mainland, there is also the most powerful waterfall - Iguazu.

- the second largest continent on our planet Earth after Eurasia, washed by the Mediterranean Sea from the north, the Red Sea from the northeast, the Atlantic Ocean from the west and the Indian Ocean from the east and south.

Africa is also called the part of the world, consisting of the mainland Africa and the islands adjacent to it, the largest of which is the island of Madagascar.

The African continent crosses the equator and several climatic zones; its feature is that it is the only continent that stretches from the northern subtropical climatic zone to the southern subtropical one.

Due to the lack of constant rainfall and irrigation on the continent - as well as glaciers or the aquifer of mountain systems - there is practically no natural regulation of the climate anywhere, except for the coasts.

(from Latin australis - "southern") - a continent located in the Eastern and Southern hemispheres of our planet Earth.

The entire territory of the mainland is the main part of the state of the Commonwealth of Australia. The mainland is part of the world Australia and Oceania.

The northern and eastern coasts of Australia are washed by the seas of the Pacific Ocean: the Arafura, Coral, Tasman, Timor Seas; western and southern - the Indian Ocean.

Near Australia are the large islands of New Guinea and Tasmania.

Along the northeast coast of Australia, the world's largest coral reef, the Great Barrier Reef, stretches for more than 2,000 km.

(Greek ἀνταρκτικός - the opposite of Arctida) - a continent located in the very south of the Earth, the center of Antarctica approximately coincides with the geographic south pole. Antarctica is washed by the waters of the Southern Ocean. Antarctica is also called the part of the world, consisting of the mainland of Antarctica and adjacent islands.

Antarctica is the highest continent, its average height is 2040 meters. About 85% of the planet's glaciers are also located on the mainland. There is no permanent population on Antarctica, but there are more than forty scientific stations belonging to different states and intended for research and detailed study of the characteristics of the continent.

Antarctica is almost completely covered by an ice sheet, the average thickness of which exceeds 2500 meters. There is also a large number of subglacial lakes (more than 140), the largest of which is Lake Vostok discovered by Russian scientists in the 1990s.