Paleoreconstruction of the Continents

Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Geodynamics Series.

The global evidence leading to the reconstruction of the distribution of continents and oceans through time kept increasing in the decade of the Geodynamics Project. Also, new methods and new techniques of analysis to define the positions of the different blocks of continental and oceanic crust through the geological time were created. This was not always understood by researchers, who, absorbed within their own research programs did not frequently realize the progress attained. However, an objective analysis of the state of the art and the present tendency in the Earth Sciences suggests that the best fruits are yet to be cropped and that future years will see new, better grounded and sophisticated ideas and interpretations forthcoming.