History of the Universe

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Mesoproterozoic Era 1.6 to 1 bya

Unlike earlier times, the geological record of the Mesoproterozoic ("middle first life") is fairly well known. Note that mya means "million years ago".

During this era the following major events happened:

    A supercontinent called Rodinia was formed.

    Stromatolites (which first appeared in the Paleoproterozic) were common.

    Sexual reproduction probably began.

    The first living forms containing many cells (multicellulars) appeared.

Rodinia Supercontinent about 1100 to 750 mya

It is thought that from about 1100 to 1000 mya, continental drift was gathering all the continents into a single large landmass called Rodinia, named from the Russian word meaning "motherland", surrounded by a single large ocean currently called Mirovia, from the Russian word meaning "global".

Notice that it is very difficult to work out exactly how the continents were positioned at this time, and there is not total agreement about their configurations and names. It seems that ancestral North America lay near the centre of this giant continent.

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History of the Universe eBook
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Written by Wyken Seagrave
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