Supercontinents signify self-organization in plate tectonics. Over the past ~2 billion years, three major supercontinents have been identified, with increasing age: Pangaea, Rodinia and Columbia. In a prototypal form, a cyclic pattern of continental assembly and breakup likely extends back to ~3 billion years ago, albeit on the smaller scale of Archaean supercratons, which, unlike global supercontinents, were tectonically segregated. In this Review, we discuss how the emergence of supercontinents provides a minimum age for the onset of the modern global plate tectonic network, whereas Archaean supercratons might reflect an earlier geodynamic and nascent tectonic regime. The assembly and breakup of Pangaea attests that the supercontinent cycle is intimately linked with whole-mantle convection. The supercontinent cycle is, consequently, interpreted as both an effect and a cause of mantle convection, emphasizing the importance of both top-down and bottom-up geodynamics, and the coupling between them. However, the nature of this coupling and how it has evolved remains controversial, resulting in contrasting models of supercontinent formation, which can be tested by quantitative geodynamic modelling and geochemical proxies. Specifically, which oceans close to create a supercontinent, and how such predictions are linked to mantle convection, are directions for future research.

超大陆表示板块构造的自组织。在过去的约20亿年中，随着年龄的增长，已经确定了三个主要的超大陆：潘盖亚，罗迪尼亚和哥伦比亚。以原型的形式，大陆集结和解体的周期性模式可以追溯到大约30亿年前，尽管是在较小规模的古细菌超克拉通中，与全球超大陆不同，它在构造上是隔离的。在这篇评论中，我们讨论了超大陆的出现如何为现代全球板块构造网络的出现提供了最低年龄，而古生的超克拉通可能反映了更早的地球动力学和新生的构造体制。Pangea的组装和破裂证明，超大陆循环与整个地幔对流密切相关。因此，超大陆周期是 解释为地幔对流的一种结果和原因，强调了自上而下和自下而上的地球动力学及其之间的耦合的重要性。但是，这种耦合的性质及其演化方式仍存在争议，导致形成了超大陆形成对比的模型，可以通过定量地球动力学建模和地球化学代理进行测试。具体来说，哪些海洋靠近以形成超大陆，以及这些预测如何与地幔对流相关联，这是未来研究的方向。可以通过定量地球动力学建模和地球化学代理进行测试。具体来说，哪些海洋靠近以形成超大陆，以及这些预测如何与地幔对流相关联，这是未来研究的方向。可以通过定量地球动力学建模和地球化学代理进行测试。具体来说，哪些海洋靠近以形成超大陆，以及这些预测如何与地幔对流相关联，这是未来研究的方向。