Van der Voo Lecture: David Evans

Mobility of tectonic plates has resulted in amalgamations of supercontinents every ~700 million years for at least the latter half of Earth history. Prior to Pangea (300-150 Ma), the preceding giant landmasses of Rodinia (1000-700 Ma) and Nuna (1600-1300 Ma) have been increasingly resolved in recent years by the combined efforts of chronostratigraphy, paleomagnetism, and kinematic synthesis. An earlier supercontinent Kenorland (ca. 2600-2200 Ma) has been postulated but heretofore only visualized in general aspects. As reconstructions progress deeper in time, one must be increasingly cautious of standard assumptions such as an axial-dipolar geomagnetic field, the total inventory of continental crust, and even whether plate tectonics existed. Mindful of these caveats, I present a viable kinematic model of Kenorland’s assembly, tenure, and breakup through the Archean-Proterozoic interval that also witnessed the Great Oxidation Event, possible Snowball Earth ice ages, and eukaryotic development.