The name of the supercontinent centered on the South Pole about 700 million years ago was ____.

• A. Pangea
• B. Gondwana
• C. Laurentia
• D. Rodinia

Answer: (D)

Around 700 million years ago, Earth’s landmasses came together into Rodinia, a supercontinent whose reconstruction places much of its crust near the South Pole during the Neoproterozoic. Paleomagnetic data, glacial evidence, and rock correlations support this polar arrangement for Rodinia, so it fits the clue of a large landmass centered toward the southern hemisphere at that time.

Pangea represents a much later assembly in the Paleozoic–Mesozoic and was not located at the pole around 700 million years ago. Laurentia is a large piece that later became part of North America rather than a full hemispheric supercontinent centered near the South Pole at that date. Gondwana formed later as the southern half of Rodinia’s breakup and persisted through much of the Paleozoic, but its polar-centered configuration at 700 million years ago is not the best fit for the time in question. So the correct name for a supercontinent centered near the South Pole at that time is Rodinia.