Thread: How Is It Possible Australia Was Connected To South America?

If the Pacific Ocean/Ring of Fire is subducting and the Pacific Ocean is shrinking as required by subduction, how is it possible that Australia was once connected to South America?

Most of the marsupials alive today are confined to South America and Australia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsupial

There are about 334 species of marsupial, and over 200 are native to Australia and neighboring northern islands. There are also 100 extant American species; these are centered mostly in South America

Harrison, L., The Migration Route of the Australian Marsupial Fauna, Australian Zoologist, Volume 3, Pages 247-263, 1924

Briggs, J.C., The Ultimate Expanding Earth Hypothesis, Journal of Biogeography, Volume 31, Issue 5, Pages 855 - 857, 2004

McCarthy, Biogeographical and Geological Evidence for a Smaller, Completely-Enclosed Pacific Basin in the Late Cretaceous, Journal of Biogeography, Volume 32, Issue 12, Pages 2161 - 2177, 2005

Ali, J.R., Biogeographical and Geological Evidence or a Smaller, Completely-Enclosed Pacific Basin in the Late Cretaceous: a Comment, Journal of Biogeography, Volume 33, Issue 9, Pages 1670-1674, 2006

Briggs, J.C., Another Expanding Earth Paper, Journal of Biogeography, Volume 33, Issue 9, Pages 1674 - 1676, 2006

Ebach, M.C., and Tangney, R.S., Biogeography In A Changing World, 2007

"The present-day cordilleran system of eastern Australia was formed in still earlier times; it arose at the same time as the earlier folds in South and North America, which formed the basis of the Andes (pre- cordilleras), at the leading edge of the continental blocks, then drifting as a whole before dividing." -- Wegener, A., The Origin of Continents and Oceans, 1915

They were connected on the other side.





Although this answer is far too simplistic, it seems suitable given the question.

Impossible.

How did the marsupials get to North China 125 mya?

By magically and miraculously teleporting across the Paleo-Tethys Ocean?

"Biogeographic arguments for a closed Pacific (just like biogeographic arguments for a closed Atlantic and closed Indian) are based on evolutionary theory. Specifically, according to the theory of evolution, you can't have a host of closely-related, poor dispersing taxa suddenly appearing on opposite sides of an ocean -- when it is highly improbable for any of the ancestral taxa to cross oceans. So according to the referenced paper above, unless plate tectonic theorists want to rely on divine intervention, a slew of creation stories or a myriad of impossible trans-oceanic crossings of terrestrial taxa, their paleomaps are wrong. Panthalassa could not have existed between all of the hundred plus referenced taxa, which is to say, it didn't exist." -- Dennis McCarthy, biogeographer, 2003

I fail to see the impossiibility of the statement

the continents were once one big chunk, you can see because africe and america of something fit together like a jigsaw,


so back when the continents were joined the marsupials or whatever wandered all over, then during an earthquake the continents cracked a few miles apart and marsupials were stuck in wherever, then over the next few million years the continents shifted around

Originally Posted by Booms

I fail to see the impossiibility of the statement

the continents were once one big chunk, you can see because africe and america of something fit together like a jigsaw,


so back when the continents were joined the marsupials or whatever wandered all over, then during an earthquake the continents cracked a few miles apart and marsupials were stuck in wherever, then over the next few million years the continents shifted around

The oldest marsupial fossil is from Northern China and it's 125 myo. Now do you see the problem?

No.

Originally Posted by free radical

No.

How did marsupials teleport off the North China island?

Ever heard of a land bridge?

"Some scientists believe that the Marsupials evolved in North America and dispersed from there, via Europe, to Asia and Africa. This diaspora would have also reached South America before it became an island continent. This theory suggests that marsupials passed from South America through Antarctica to Australia (via Gondwanan land connections), a continent already occupied by placental mammals..............."

I feel that the theory suggests that marsupials passed from South America through Antarctica to Australia.The continents were joined the marsupials or whatever wandered all over, then during an earthquake the continents cracked a few miles apart and marsupials were stuck in wherever.
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synjones
MLS

Originally Posted by KALSTER

Ever heard of a land bridge?

Yeah, it doesn't exist in the plate tectonics model. There is no "land bridge" across the Paleo-Tethys Ocean. See pseudomap posted above.

Originally Posted by Total Science

Originally Posted by KALSTER

Ever heard of a land bridge?

Yeah, it doesn't exist in the plate tectonics model. There is no "land bridge" across the Paleo-Tethys Ocean. See pseudomap posted above.

There are actually many opportunities for early marsupials to disperse. One hundred and twenty five million years ago most of the continents were still connected and they could have walked to just about every continent. (see the animation below).

Much later, at 20 million years ago, numerous land bridges existed between Asia and Australia through today's Indonesia.

No magic required.

http://www.classzone.com/books/earth...=visualization

Originally Posted by Lynx_Fox

Originally Posted by Total Science

Originally Posted by KALSTER

Ever heard of a land bridge?

Yeah, it doesn't exist in the plate tectonics model. There is no "land bridge" across the Paleo-Tethys Ocean. See pseudomap posted above.

There are actually many opportunities for early marsupials to disperse. One hundred and twenty five million years ago most of the continents were still connected and they could have walked to just about every continent. (see the animation below).

Not according to the pseudomap posted above.

Much later, at 20 million years ago, numerous land bridges existed between Asia and Australia through today's Indonesia.

No magic required.

http://www.classzone.com/books/earth...=visualization

Either the paleomaps are wrong or you're wrong, so which is it?

Originally Posted by Total Science

Originally Posted by Lynx_Fox

Originally Posted by Total Science

Originally Posted by KALSTER

Ever heard of a land bridge?

Yeah, it doesn't exist in the plate tectonics model. There is no "land bridge" across the Paleo-Tethys Ocean. See pseudomap posted above.

There are actually many opportunities for early marsupials to disperse. One hundred and twenty five million years ago most of the continents were still connected and they could have walked to just about every continent. (see the animation below).

Not according to the pseudomap posted above.

Much later, at 20 million years ago, numerous land bridges existed between Asia and Australia through today's Indonesia.

No magic required.

http://www.classzone.com/books/earth...=visualization

Either the paleomaps are wrong or you're wrong, so which is it?

Actually this qwould be you that is wrong. As is very plainly shown in the caption on the upper right corner of the map above this is a view of the continental arrangement 255 million years ago. Lynx_Fox mentions land bridges existing at 125 million years ago and 20 million years ago.

There is no contradiction between map and the information

Originally Posted by Total Science

Originally Posted by Lynx_Fox

Originally Posted by Total Science

Originally Posted by KALSTER

Ever heard of a land bridge?

Yeah, it doesn't exist in the plate tectonics model. There is no "land bridge" across the Paleo-Tethys Ocean. See pseudomap posted above.

There are actually many opportunities for early marsupials to disperse. One hundred and twenty five million years ago most of the continents were still connected and they could have walked to just about every continent. (see the animation below).

Not according to the pseudomap posted above.

Much later, at 20 million years ago, numerous land bridges existed between Asia and Australia through today's Indonesia.

No magic required.

http://www.classzone.com/books/earth...=visualization

Either the paleomaps are wrong or you're wrong, so which is it?

You do understand that the map is a snapshot, and further you do understand that sealevel changes over geologic time, yes?

A basic course in earth's geological history might clear up a lot of your confusion. I am aware of some good ones in most parts of Europe and the US, I may be able to point you towards a decent starter course. It is evident that you would like to understand the processes that have shaped the planet.

Originally Posted by Paleoichneum

Lynx_Fox mentions land bridges existing at 125 million years ago and 20 million years ago.

What land bridges 125 and 20 mya?

Originally Posted by free radical

You do understand that the map is a snapshot, and further you do understand that sealevel changes over geologic time, yes?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGMckoF-RhA

I am not the one with a question here, so why would I or anyone visit a link you provide in a thread in which you are the one posing questions. Either you are truly interested in migration of marsupials and Earth history or not, be clear but do not be a complete nutjob if you wish to be taken seriously.

obviously the question in the thread title is a rhetoric question

It, along with the mountains falling to Earth, is one of the daftest I have heard, though I do stay out of the religion section.