Gondwana Gondwana Gondwana (),(or Gondwanaland), was a supercontinent that existed from the Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) until the Carboniferous (about 320 million years ago). It was formed by the accretion of several cratons. Eventually, Gondwana became the largest piece of continental crust of the Paleozoic Era, covering an area of about . During the Carboniferous, it merged with Euramerica to form a larger supercontinent called Pangaea. Gondwana (and Pangaea) gradually broke up during the Mesozoic Era. The remnants of Gondwana make up about two-thirds of today's continental area, including South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia, and the Indian Subcontinent. The
Pangean megamonsoon solar insolation shifted toward the Southern Hemisphere. Air then traveled from Laurasia (region of high pressure), across the Tethys Ocean to Gondwana (region of low pressure). Moisture advection toward the Southern Hemisphere would have fueled heavy precipitation along the Gondwana coasts, while Laurasia remained very dry. There are marked similarities between factors contributing to the East Asian monsoon and those that would have influenced Pangean climate. This not only supports the theory that Pangean climate was dominated by the monsoon, but also aids in the study of it, providing paleoclimatologists with a present-day example to which they can compare their