Baltica
Baltica is a Late
Proterozoic-Early
Palaeozoic lithospheric plate that now includes the
East European craton of northwestern
Eurasia.
Baltica was created as an entity not earlier than 1.8 Ga. Before this time, the three segments/continents that now make up the East European craton were in different places on the globe. Occasionally, Baltica was a
continent itself or part of earlier
supercontinents. This is a brief history of Baltica:
* ~1.8 billion years ago, Baltica was part of the major
supercontinent Columbia.
* ~1.5 billion years ago, Baltica along with
Arctica and
East Antarctica were part of the minor supercontinent
Nena.
* ~1.1 billion years ago, Baltica was part of the major supercontinent
Rodinia.
* ~750 million years ago, Baltica was part of the minor supercontinent
Protolaurasia.
* ~600 million years ago, Baltica was part of the major supercontinent
Pannotia.
* ~
Cambrian, Baltica was an independent continent.
* ~
Devonian, Baltica collided against
Laurentia, forming the minor supercontinent
Euramerica.
* ~
Permian, all major continents collide against each other for forming the major supercontinent
Pangaea.
* ~
Jurassic, Pangaea rifted into two minor supercontinents:
Laurasia and
Gondwana. Baltica was part of the minor supercontinent Laurasia.
* ~
Cretaceous, Baltica was part of the minor supercontinent Eurasia.
* ~Present, Baltica is part of the forming minor supercontinent
Eurafrasia.
* ~250 million years from now, it is believed that all continents will crash together for forming the major supercontinent
Pangaea Ultima, which Baltica will become a part of.
* ~400 million years from now, Pangaea Ultima will disintegrate, and no one knows what will happen to Baltica when it does.
*
Baltic Shield
