Editing Laurasia (section)

===Rodinia===
{{Main|Rodinia}}
[[File:Rodinia 900Ma.jpg|thumb|left|Rodinia 900&nbsp;Mya centred on Laurentia with Baltica and Amazonia on its southern margin.<ref>"Consensus" reconstruction from {{Harvnb|Li|Bogdanova|Collins|Davidson|2008}}.</ref><br />View centred on 30°S,130°E.]]
In the vast majority of plate tectonic reconstructions, Laurentia formed the core of the supercontinent [[Rodinia]], which formed 1,260-900 Mya.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kee |first1=Weon-Seo |last2=Kim |first2=Sung Won |last3=Kwon |first3=Sanghoon |last4=Santosh |first4=M. |last5=Ko |first5=Kyoungtae |last6=Jeong |first6=Youn-Joong |date=1 December 2019 |title=Early Neoproterozoic (ca. 913–895 Ma) arc magmatism along the central–western Korean Peninsula: Implications for the amalgamation of Rodinia supercontinent |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0301926819303791 |journal=[[Precambrian Research]] |volume=335 |doi=10.1016/j.precamres.2019.105498 |bibcode=2019PreR..33505498K |s2cid=210298156 |access-date=9 November 2022}}</ref> However, the exact fit of various continents within Rodinia is debated. In some reconstructions, Baltica was attached to Greenland along its Scandinavian margin while [[Amazonian craton|Amazonia]] was docked along Baltica's [[Trans-European Suture Zone|Tornquist margin]]. Australia and East Antarctica were located on Laurentia's western margin.<ref>{{Harvnb|Torsvik|Smethurst|Meert|Van der Voo|1996|loc=Rodinia, pp. 236–237}}</ref>

Siberia was located near but at some distance from Laurentia's northern margin in most reconstructions.<ref>{{Harvnb|Li|Bogdanova|Collins|Davidson|2008|loc=Siberia–Laurentia connection, p. 189}}</ref> In the reconstruction of some Russian geologists, however, the southern margin (modern coordinates) of Siberia merged with the northern margin of Laurentia, and these two continents broke up along what is now the {{Convert|3000|km|abbr=on}}-long [[Central Asian Orogenic Belt|Central Asian Foldbelt]] no later than 570&nbsp;Mya and traces of this breakup can still be found in the [[Franklin dike swarm]] in northern Canada and the [[Aldan Shield]] in Siberia.<ref>{{Harvnb|Yarmolyuk|Kovalenko|Sal'nikova|Nikiforov|2006|loc=p. 1031; Fig. 1, p. 1032}}</ref>

The [[Panthalassa|Proto-Pacific]] opened and Rodinia began to breakup during the [[Neoproterozoic]] (c. 750–600&nbsp;Mya) as Australia-Antarctica (East Gondwana) rifted from the western margin of Laurentia, while the rest of Rodinia (West Gondwana and Laurasia) rotated clockwise and drifted south. Earth subsequently underwent a series of glaciations&nbsp;&ndash; the [[Cryogenian|Varanger]] (c. 650&nbsp;Mya, also known as [[Snowball Earth]]) and the Rapitan and Ice Brook glaciations (c. 610-590&nbsp;Mya)&nbsp;&ndash; both Laurentia and Baltica were located south of 30°S, with the South Pole located in eastern Baltica, and glacial deposits from this period have been found in Laurentia and Baltica but not in Siberia.<ref name="Torsvik-etal-1996-Rodinia">{{Harvnb|Torsvik|Smethurst|Meert|Van der Voo|1996|loc=Abstract; Initial break-up of Rodinia and Vendian glaciations, pp. 237–240}}</ref>

A [[mantle plume]] (the [[Central Iapetus Magmatic Province]]) forced Laurentia and Baltica to separate ca. 650–600&nbsp;Mya and the [[Iapetus Ocean]] opened between them. Laurentia then began to move quickly ({{Convert|20|cm/yr|abbr=on}}) north towards the Equator where it got stuck over a [[Large low-shear-velocity provinces|cold spot]] in the Proto-Pacific. Baltica remained near Gondwana in southern latitudes into the [[Ordovician]].<ref name="Torsvik-etal-1996-Rodinia" />