Opening of the North Atlantic Ocean Plateau (off Norway), Faroe-Shetland Basin, Hebrides, Outer Moray Firth and Denmark. The supercontinent known as Pangea existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras and began to rift around 200 million years ago. Pangea had three major phases of breakup. The first major phase began in the Early-Middle Jurassic, taking place between North America and Africa. The second major phase of breakup began in the Early Cretaceous. The South Atlantic Ocean opened around 140 million years ago as Africa separated from South America, and about the same time, India separated from Antarctica and Australia, forming the central Indian Ocean.
Gangdese batholith Gangdese batholith The Gangdese batholith or Gangdese volcanic arc is a major geological structure in the south of the Lhasa terrane in Tibet, to the north of the Himalayas. The batholith formed around 100 million years ago, and was volcanically active for about 20 million years. It reactivated around 65 million years ago as the Indian plate approached Eurasia, and was active for another 20 million years. The Lhasa terrane moved northward and collided with the Qiangtang terrane along the Bangong-Nujiang suture towards the end of the late Jurassic (). Collision activity continued until the early Late Cretaceous () Ma.