Nena (supercontinent)

U–Pb ages of 5246 concordant detrital zircons from 40 of Earth's major rivers (Nena is referred to as Nuna)^[1]

Nena was an ancient minor supercontinent that consisted of the cratons of Arctica, Baltica, and East Antarctica.

Nena formed about 1.8 billion years ago but became part of the global supercontinent Columbia around 1.1 billion years ago.

Nomenclature

Life timeline

view • discuss • 

-4500 —

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-4000 —

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-3500 —

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-3000 —

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-2500 —

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-2000 —

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-1500 —

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-1000 —

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-500 —

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0 —

water

Single-celled
life

photosynthesis

Eukaryotes

Multicellular
life

Land life

Dinosaurs    

Mammals

Flowers

 

←

Earliest Earth (-4540)

←

Earliest water

←

Earliest life
(-4100)

←

LHB meteorites

←

Earliest oxygen

←

Atmospheric oxygen

←

Oxygen Crisis

←

Earliest sexual reproduction

←

Cambrian explosion

←

Earliest humans

P
h
a
n
r
z
c

P
r
o
t
e
r
o
z
o
i
c

A
r
c
h
e
a
n

H
a
d
e
a
n

Axis scale: millions of years.
Also see: Human timeline & Nature timeline

Nena is an acronym that derives from Northern Europe and North America, but in contemporary research is often referred to as Nuna.

Extent

Nena as a continent has been associated with the Sudbury Basin Impact.

References

1. Campbell, Ian H., Charlotte M. Allen. "Formation of Supercontinents Linked to Increases in Atmospheric Oxygen." Nature. 1 (2008): 554–558.

• Sankaran, A. V., The Supercontinent Medley: Recent Views. Current Science, 25 August 2003.

External links

Multimedia

• Sudbury Impact and Nena
• Sudbury Basin & Alberta Tarsands
• Sudbury Basin

In research

• Referred to as Nuna