Rodinia Supercontinent Breakup Begins

Around 750 million years ago, the supercontinent Rodinia entered a major phase of disassembly as mantle plume activity drove widespread rifting along the margins of Laurentia and other continental blocks. Extensive lava flows and volcanic eruptions recorded across multiple continents mark this pulse of fragmentation. The breakup exposed vast tracts of fresh basaltic rock to chemical weathering, drawing down atmospheric carbon dioxide and contributing to the runaway ice-albedo feedback that plunged Earth into the Snowball Earth glaciations.