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In the east, another ancient range, the Urals, separates Europe from Asia. Both these ranges are evidence of Europe's earliest formation, the results of processes that began half a billion years ago. Back then, Europe was still in pieces. Scandinavia was in the southern oceans, England and the Low Countries were near the Antarctic Circle, and most of the rest sat near the South Pole. All of these isolated fragments of crust were on the move.
Continental plates are dragged along by powerful flows of molten rock deep in the earth's mantle, some 80 kilometers underground. They only move a few centimeters every year, but over millions of years these centimeters add up.
Like a giant jigsaw puzzle, Europe was gradually assembled piece by piece. Each impact created enormous crumple zones. Rock was bent and buckled as if caught between the jaws of a vice, and forced up into great mountain chains along the join.
They created Europe's backbone, which in scale once rivalled the Himalayas. The formation of these ancient mountains was the first act of European union. Since then, Europe has traveled halfway across the globe. 300 million years ago, it was straddling the equator.
In this warm, wet climate, the foothills of Europe's oldest mountain ranges now became the cradle of the world's first forests. Paris would have been smothered in lush tropical rainforest which stretched east across the entire continent.
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words and expressions
the Urals :乌拉尔山脉
be on the move:to be travelling在活动中
buckle:to bend or become bent, often as a result of force, heat or weakness扣住, 变弯曲
vice:a tool with two parts which can be moved together by tightening a screw so that an object can be held firmly between them while it is being worked on老虎钳
straddle:to sit or stand with your legs on either side of something偏落于…旁
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