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Tectonic plates never stop moving, and scientists predict that Earth will have a single supercontinent in the future. In 250 million years, America, Africa and Europe will be united, while islands like New Zealand may become isolated. The map of the planet will be unrecognizable!
Have you ever stopped to think about how the world might change in millions of years? We barely notice it, but the planet is always changing. Tectonic plates never stop, and that means that the Earth of today will not be the same in the future.
If we look back, we can see that all of this has happened before. Pangaea, for example, was a supercontinent that united almost all of the land on the planet about 300 million years ago. And now, scientists think that something similar will happen again in the next 250 million years. The name? Pangaea Ultima. But could it really be? you can be sure?
The dance of tectonic plates and the formation of supercontinents
Imagine a giant jigsaw puzzle that never stops moving. That’s basically what happens with tectonic plates. They slide, collide and create new shapes for the continents, shaping the Earth over millions of years.
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We've had a few supercontinents before Pangaea. Nuna, 1,8 billion years ago, and Rodinia, about 700 million years ago, were some of these gigantic formations. Now, scientists are trying to predict when and how the next one will emerge – and the answers are quite curious.
Pangaea Ultima
If scientists' calculations are correct, in about 250 million years the Earth will look completely different. The most widely accepted model is that of Pangea Ultima, where the continents will merge again and form a single landmass.
In this version of the future, America, Africa and Europe will come together again. The United Kingdom will stick to Europe, and countries like Spain, France, Portugal and Morocco will share new borders. New Zealand and Scotland, it seems, could become completely isolated.
Now, the most interesting thing about all this is that Pangea Ultima is not the only possible scenario. There are other models who try to predict the future of Earth, and each of them paints a slightly different picture.
The different models for the future of the Earth
Science still has no final verdict on how the continents will reorganize. In addition to Pangea Ultima, other models have been proposed, and each of them has a different idea of what might happen.
Novopangea – Believes that the continents will group together around the Pacific Ocean.
Aurica – Suggests that India will be the center of the new supercontinent.
Amasia – Argues that the continents will end up joining together around the North Pole.
What defines which of these scenarios Could this become a reality? The movement of tectonic plates. And believe me, they don’t always move at the same speed. During the breakup of Pangea, for example, the Earth’s crust was moving at about 20 millimeters per year – basically the same speed at which our toenails grow.
