Although the breakup of the supercontinent Pangea had already started in the Triassic Period, the continents were still very close together at the beginning of Jurassic time. The landmasses were grouped into a northern region—Laurasia—consisting of North America and Eurasia, and a southern region—Gondwana—consisting of South America, Africa, India, Antarctica, and Australia. These two regions were separated by Tethys, a tropical east-west seaway. During the Jurassic, spreading centres and oceanic rifts formed between North America and Eurasia, between North America and Gondwana, and between the various segments of Gondwana itself (see the map). In the steadily opening, though still restricted, ocean basins, there was a continuous accumulation of thick flood basalts and a subsequent deposition of sediments. Some of these deposits, such as salt deposits in the Gulf of Mexico and oil-bearing shales of the North Sea, are economically important today. In addition to ocean basin spreading, continental rifting initiated during the Jurassic, eventually separating Africa and South America from Antarctica, India, and Madagascar. The numerous microplates and blocks making up the complex Caribbean region today can be traced to this time interval.

Pangea: Late Jurassic Period Paleogeography and paleoceanography of Late Jurassic time. Present-day coastlines and tectonic boundaries of continents are shown in the inset at the lower right. Adapted from: C.R. Scotese, The University of Texas at Arlington

To accommodate the production of new seafloor along the proto-Atlantic Ocean, significant subduction zones (where seafloor is destroyed) were active along virtually all the continental margins around Pangea as well as in southern Tibet, southeastern Europe, and other areas. All along the west coast of North, Central, and South America, plate tectonic activity in the subduction zones brought on the initial formation of north-south mountain ranges such as the Rocky Mountains and the Andes. Along western North America, several terranes (islands or microcontinents riding on a moving plate) were brought east on oceanic crust and collided with the continent, including parts of a microcontinent that collided into the Alaskan and Siberian regions in the northern Pacific. These collisions added to the growth of the North American continent and its mountain chains. One mountain-building event, known as the Nevadan orogeny, resulted in the emplacement of massive igneous and metamorphic rocks from Alaska to Baja California. Granites formed in the Sierra Nevadas during this time can be seen today in Yosemite National Park, California.

In the Early Jurassic the western interior of North America was covered by a vast sand sea, or erg—one of the largest deposits of dune sands in the geologic record. These deposits (including the Navajo Sandstone) are prominent in a number of places today, including Zion National Park, Utah. In Middle and early Late Jurassic times, the western regions of North America were covered by shallow seaways that advanced and retreated repeatedly, leaving successive accumulations of marine sandstones, limestones, and shales. By Late Jurassic time the seaway had retreated, and strata bearing dinosaur fossils were deposited in river floodplains and stream channel environments, such as those recorded in the Morrison Formation, Montana.

Cross-bedded sandstone cliffs in Zion National Park, Utah, U.S. Peter L. Kresan

Records of sea level changes can be found on every continent. However, because of the significant tectonic activity occurring around the world, it is not clear which of these local changes can be correlated to global sea level change. Because there is no evidence of major glaciations in the Jurassic, any global sea level change must have been due to thermal expansion of seawater or plate tectonic activity (such as major activity at seafloor ridges). Some geologists have proposed that average sea levels increased from Early to Late Jurassic time.