Supercontinent cycle theory goes back to the 1980s – see https://phys.org/print442074739.html … Pannotia is one of five supercontinents that predate Pangea and is 'known' to have had 'profound' influence on the course of earth history and the condition of its oceans, atmosphere, and biosphere – even on the circulation of the Earth's mantle. One wonders how these things are known – rather than thought to be – but one of its adherents tells us 'we know a lot more about on what is going on between the surface and the earth's core. It seems quite clear now that the supercontinent cycle plays an enormous role in the circulation of the material in the Earth's mantle – and this has an impact on the earth's magnetic field. It's taken the implications of the cycle to a whole new level …' he adds.
Nance and Worsley proposed the supercontinent cycle in the early 1980s. It is their baby, if you like. The existence, or the coming and going of five supercontinents prior to the supercontinent of Pangaea, has generally been accepted – but the last of them, Pannotia, is not wholly accepted by other geologists. Some geologists have expanded geological time in order to accommodate Pannotia we are told – but others are quite sceptical. Sounds a bit like a computer version of Lego or Minecraft – building blocks on a screen. This becomes even more so when they add their list of proofs. These are the existence of mountains (colliding plates) and species extinctions. They are thought to mark very old plate collision episodes – a never ending system of dissembling and reassembling.