Continental Drift Worksheet – Pangaea Map to Label

All 14 labels on the diagram

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Pangaea 10

North America It lay at the northwest of Pangaea. Its east coast was joined to Africa.
Eurasia Europe and Asia together. It lay in the northeast.
South America Its bulge fits into the hollow of Africa's west coast.
Africa Africa sat in the middle of Pangaea.
India India lay far south then, between Africa, Antarctica and Australia.
Antarctica Antarctica lay under the tip of Africa. It was nearer the equator then.
Australia Australia was joined to Antarctica, at the southeast edge.
Laurasia The northern half of Pangaea: North America and Eurasia.
Gondwana The southern half of Pangaea. Older books call it Gondwanaland.
Tethys Sea The sea between Laurasia and Gondwana, open to the east.

The fossil evidence 4

Cynognathus A land reptile of the Triassic, about 3 meters long.
Lystrosaurus A land reptile of the Triassic. Its fossils lie in Africa, India and Antarctica.
Mesosaurus A freshwater reptile. Its fossils lie in South America and southern Africa.
Glossopteris A plant with tongue-shaped leaves. Its fossils lie on all the southern continents.

How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-10-01 and kept only where two of these use it. (1) US Geological Survey, This Dynamic Earth, Historical perspective, https://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/historical.html , with its two figures, read as pictures: the break-up of Pangaea, https://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/graphics/Fig2-5globes.gif (Pangaea in the Permian, 250 million years ago; Laurasia, Gondwanaland and the Tethys Sea in the Triassic; North America, South America, Africa, Asia, India, Australia and Antarctica today), and the rejoined continents, https://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/graphics/Fig4.gif (Africa, South America, India, Antarctica and Australia fitted together, with bands for Cynognathus, a Triassic land reptile about 3 m long; Mesosaurus, a freshwater reptile; Lystrosaurus, a Triassic land reptile; and the fern Glossopteris, found in all of the southern continents). The text gives Pangaea as "all lands" in Greek, Wegener's theory of 1912, the fit of South America and Africa, and Laurasia in the north and Gondwanaland in the south. (2) Wikipedia, Pangaea, Laurasia, Gondwana, Tethys Ocean, Continental drift, Mesosaurus, Cynognathus, Lystrosaurus and Glossopteris, text only, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangaea and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_drift : the same names; Gondwana for Gondwanaland; the Tethys Ocean, also called the Tethys Sea, between Gondwana and Laurasia; Lystrosaurus fossils in Antarctica, India and South Africa; Mesosaurus in Brazil and South Africa; Glossopteris, an extinct seed plant named for its tongue-shaped leaves, across Gondwana. Licence: own drawing; coastlines from Natural Earth, public domain

The drawing: Own drawing: coastlines from Natural Earth (public domain), arranged by hand after the US Geological Survey's diagrams in This Dynamic Earth; nothing traced. Licence: own drawing; coastlines from Natural Earth, public domain

How it works

About 250 million years ago the land was one supercontinent, Pangaea, which means all lands. The first map fits today's continents back together. The second shows fossils whose ranges cross the joins.

Read the full guide

Pangaea in two halves

Alfred Wegener put forward continental drift in 1912. Pangaea later split into Laurasia in the north and Gondwana, once called Gondwanaland, in the south, with the Tethys Sea between them. Those two broke into the continents on today's map.

The fossil evidence

Wegener saw that South America fits against Africa, and that the same fossils lie on both coasts. Mesosaurus was a freshwater reptile. Glossopteris, a plant, turns up on every southern continent.

The fit is a simple one for a worksheet. Each landmass keeps today's coastline, so the gaps are not real seas.
Looking for a Pangea map with countries, blank? Borders are left off here: each landmass is one piece.
For a pangea blank map, press Print blank on the first view. Print labeled gives that blank map of Pangaea its key.

Questions and answers

What is continental drift?

The idea that the continents have not always been where they are now. Alfred Wegener proposed in 1912 that they were once joined in one supercontinent, Pangaea, and have since moved apart. It led to the theory of plate tectonics.

What evidence did Wegener have for continental drift?

The fit of South America against Africa, matching rock structures, and fossils of the same plants and animals on coasts now far apart. Fossils of warm-climate plants in Antarctica showed it once lay nearer the equator.

Which fossils support continental drift?

Four are shown on most maps: the land reptiles Cynognathus and Lystrosaurus, the freshwater reptile Mesosaurus and the plant Glossopteris. Each is found on continents that oceans now separate.

What were Laurasia and Gondwana?

The two large landmasses Pangaea first broke into. Laurasia, in the north, held North America and Eurasia. Gondwana, in the south, held South America, Africa, India, Antarctica and Australia.