how do we know what past continents like pangaea or laurentia looked like?

Question

how do we know what past continents like pangaea or laurentia looked like?

In: 3

Answer 1

There are identifiable characters to match up. Like the Scottish Highlands and the Appalachian mountains in the US have matching characteristics, fit together geographically, and also the current movements are still ongoing. Like for the Himalayans are still growing due to the plates still moving. So being able to work out “X plate moves Y distance, XXX million years ago would place it right next to this other place.”