The Birth of the Atlantic Ocean from Pangea's Breakup

Around 200 million years ago, the supercontinent Pangea began to fracture. As the North American and South American plates drifted westward away from Africa and Eurasia, the gap between them filled with seawater, forming the Atlantic Ocean. This process of continental rifting and seafloor spreading continues today along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where new oceanic crust is created, slowly widening the Atlantic by a few centimeters each year.