Laurasia Laurasia Laurasia () was the more northern of two supercontinents (the other being Gondwana) that formed part of the Pangaea supercontinent around (Mya). It separated from Gondwana (beginning in the late Triassic period) during the breakup of Pangaea, drifting farther north after the split. The name combines the names of Laurentia, the name given to the North American craton, and Eurasia. As suggested by the geologic naming, Laurasia included most of the land masses which make up today's continents of the Northern Hemisphere, chiefly Laurentia, Baltica, Siberia, Kazakhstania, and the North China and East China cratons. Although Laurasia is known
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