Australia: The Land Where Time Began

A biography of the Australian continent 

Together with Antarctica and India, Australia made up East Gondwana, and possibly with Laurasia, until other continents fused about 720 Ma. At 700 Ma Australia underwent extension. According to the SWEAT hypothesis (Kearey et al., 2009, section 11.5.3) Gondwana began forming immediately after the break up of Rodinia during the Late Palaeozoic. As the proto-Pacific opened  forming the Pan-African orogens, small ocean basins surrounding the African and South American cratons closed. The collision and amalgamation of West Gondwana with the blocks comprising East Gondwana resulted from the closure of the Mozambique Ocean. Some believe that there may have been a short-lived supercontinent called Pannotia In the Early Cambrian, that resulted from this amalgamation (Kearey et al., 2009). Whether or not Pannotia actually existed depends on the timing of rifting between Gondwana and Laurentia (Cawood et al., 2001).

See Neoproterozoic Australia

Sources & Further reading

1. Kearey, Philip, Klepeis, Keith A. & Vine, Frederick J., 2009, Global Tectonics, 3rd Edition, Wiley-Blackwell.
2. Veevers, J.J. (ed.), 2000, Billion-year earth history of Australia and neighbours in Gondwanaland, GEMOC Press Sydney