Summary:
- At the end of the Paleozoic, there was one continent and one ocean.
- Then Pangaea began to break apart about 180 million years ago.
- Earth's interior is hot.
- Heat builds up beneath the supercontinent.
- This causes the continent to buoy upward.
- Continental rifting begins.
- Basalt lava fills in the rift.
- This could lead to seafloor spreading and the formation of a new ocean basin.
- This basalt province is where Africa is splitting apart and generating basalt lava.