section_path: Plate reconstruction/Formation and break-up of continents
section_name: Formation and break-up of continents
paragraph_text: Formation and break-up of continents
  
  The movement of plates has caused the formation and break-up of continents over time, including occasional formation of a supercontinent that contains most or all of the continents. The supercontinent Columbia or Nuna formed during a period of 2,000 to 1,800 million years ago and broke up about 1,500 to 1,300 million years ago. The supercontinent Rodinia is thought to have formed about 1 billion years ago and to have embodied most or all of Earth's continents, and broken up into eight continents around 600 million years ago. The eight continents later re-assembled into another supercontinent called Pangaea; Pangaea broke up into Laurasia (which became North America and Eurasia) and Gondwana (which became the remaining continents).
  
  The Himalayas, the world's tallest mountain range, are assumed to have been formed by the collision of two major plates. Before uplift, the area where they stand was covered by the Tethys Ocean.