There were shallow seas near several continents, because a supercontinent called Pannotia had broken into smaller pieces.

This hypothetical supercontinent is called Pannotia.

Most of the above masses coalesced again to form the relatively short-lived supercontinent of Pannotia.

This formed Pannotia.

An image showing Pannotia according to Christopher Scotese.

Pannotia was short-lived.

In contrast to Rodinia, Pannotia was short-lived.

Geologically, the Paleozoic starts shortly after the breakup of a supercontinent called Pannotia.

Supercontinent Pannotia forms.

Pannotia breaks up into several smaller continents: Laurentia, Baltica and Gondwana.

Shallow seas flanked the margins of several continents created during the breakup of the supercontinent Pannotia.

Cambrian continents are thought to have resulted from the breakup of a Neoproterozoic supercontinent called Pannotia.

Between 650 million and 550 million years ago, another supercontinent was forming, Pannotia, which was shaped like a "V".

Rodinia is hypothesised to have broken up in the Neoproterozoic with its continental fragments re-assembled to form Pannotia 600-550 million years ago.

Pannotia and Columbia, along with landmasses before Columbia (such as Ur), were also surrounded by superoceans.

Pan-African Ocean (Pannotia)

(Siberia had been a separate continent for millions of years since the deformation of the supercontinent Pannotia in the Middle Carboniferous.)

South China had been part of many past supercontinents, including Rodinia, Pannotia, Gondwana, Pangaea, Laurasia, and Eurasia.

The collisions that formed Pannotia were brief collisions, and the continents making up Pannotia already had active rifting.

Outside of the V was a very large ancient ocean called the Panafrican Ocean that may have surrounded Pannotia, equivalent to the future Panthalassic Ocean.

When Pannotia disintegrated 550 million years ago, South China (and North China) became part of and remained with Eastern Gondwana for millions of years.

The ocean formed when Pannotia disintegrated, Proto-Laurasia (Laurentia, Baltica, and Siberia) rifted away from a supercontinent that would become Gondwana.

The Pan-African orogeny was a series of major Neoproterozoic orogenic events (mountain building) which related to the formation of the supercontinents Gondwana and Pannotia about 600 million years ago.

It is further postulated that the supercontinent before Pannotia, Rodinia, existed 1.25 billion to 750 million years ago - a mere 150 million years before Pannotia.

It is believed that Laurasia did not break up again before it recombined with the southern continents to form the late Precambrian supercontinent of Pannotia, which remained until the early Cambrian.