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WHAT WAS KENORLAND?

Kenorland was the world's first supercontinent and was fully-formed around 2.7 billion years ago.

Up until Kenorland's formation, the young planet was a waterworld with an atmosphere rich in methane.

This meant oxygen-loving bacteria could only accumulate by microscopic vents at the bottom of the ocean.

When the new landmass emerged, parts of the seafloor were pushed towards the surface. 

Kenorland (pictured) was the world's first supercontinent and was fully-formed around 2.7 billion years ago. Up until Kenorland's formation, the young planet was a waterworld with an atmosphere rich in methane

Kenorland (pictured) was the world's first supercontinent and was fully-formed around 2.7 billion years ago. Up until Kenorland's formation, the young planet was a waterworld with an atmosphere rich in methane

Exposure of the new land to weathering may have set off a sink of greenhouse gases such carbon dioxide.  

Simple forms of bacteria that only thrived in water were superseded by more complex algae, plants and fungi. 

The dominant gases of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrogen were pumped into the air. 

This disrupted the radiative balance of the Earth that generated a series of glacial episodes between 2.4 billion and 2.2 billion years ago.

This could have then resulted in the Great Oxygenation Event when atmospheric changes brought significant amounts of free oxygen into the air.    

Kenorland disintegrated around 300 million years ago.

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