It's hard to believe, but did you know North America almost split itself in two? 1.1 billion years ago, the land almost separated into two halves— and had it succeeded, there would now be an ocean where Lake Superior is! Learn all about this crazy separation with Hank in a new episode of SciShow! Go to http://Brilliant.org/SciShow to try their Knowledge and Uncertainty course. The first 200 subscribers get 20% off an annual Premium subscription. SciShow has a spinoff podcast! It's called SciShow Tangents. Check it out at http://www.scishowtangents.org/ ---------- Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scishow ---------- Huge thanks go to the following Patreon supporters for helping us keep SciShow free for everyone forever: Bd_Tmprd, Harrison Mills, Jeffrey Mckishen, James Knight, Christoph Schwanke, Jacob, Matt Curls, Sam Buck, Christopher R Boucher, Eric Jensen, Lehel Kovacs, Adam Brainard, Greg, Ash, Sam Lutfi, Piya Shedden, Scott Satovsky Jr, Charles Southerland, charles george, Alex Hackman, Chris Peters, Kevin Bealer ---------- Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet? Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/scishow Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/scishow Tumblr: http://scishow.tumblr.com/ Instagram: http://instagram.com/thescishow ---------- Sources: https://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.northwestern.edu/dist/8/1676/files/2017/05/mcrinterp-2m6zlyb.pdf https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1578726/ https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/rodinia https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987113000807?via%3Dihub https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/6060 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0037073801000859?via%3Dihub https://www.jstor.org/stable/24989160?seq=1 https://eos.org/features/new-insights-into-north-americas-midcontinent-rift https://phys.org/news/2017-12-geologists-theory-formation-midcontinent-rift.html https://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.northwestern.edu/dist/8/1676/files/2018/08/riftology-tj5d93.pdf https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2013GL059176 https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-abstract/67/8/1079/4822/CORRELATION-OF-GRAVITY-ANOMALIES-WITH-THE?redirectedFrom=fulltext https://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.northwestern.edu/dist/8/1676/files/2018/08/riftology-tj5d93.pdf https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.ea.13.050185.002021#article-denial https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2017TC004923 https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2019AGUFM.T33F0433M/abstract https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/004019518890265X Image Sources: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pannotia.svg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Laurussia_Euramerica.svg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Midcontinent_Rift_map.PNG https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Autograv_CG5_P1150838.JPG https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/123835.php https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:3-Devils-grade-Moses-Coulee-Cattle-Feed-Lot-PB110016.JPG https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:B%C3%A1r%C3%B0arbunga_Volcano,_September_4_2014_-_15145875322.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ocean-birth_hg.png https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rodinia_reconstruction.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grenville-Extent.png https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:EAfrica.png https://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/historical.html