Science

Modeling predicts supercontinent Amasia will form in 300 million years

Modeling predicts the Pacific Ocean will close and America will collide with Asia
Curtin University
Modeling predicts the Pacific Ocean will close and America will collide with Asia
Curtin University

New modeling from researchers at Curtin University has simulated 300 million years of tectonic plate movement to predict the formation of a supercontinent called Amasia. The modeling estimates the Pacific Ocean closing and America colliding with Asia.

“Over the past two billion years, Earth’s continents have collided together to form a supercontinent every 600 million years, known as the supercontinent cycle,” explained lead author on the new study, Chuan Huang. “This means that the current continents are due to come together again in a couple of hundred of million years’ time.”

The most recent supercontinent was Pangaea, which came together around 335 million years ago and began to break up at the beginning of the Jurassic age 200 million years ago.

When Pangaea broke up, the Atlantic and Indian oceans ultimately formed as the slow rifting of continents created the world map we know today. What we now refer to as the Pacific Ocean is the remnant of a super ocean called Panthalassa. And this ocean has been slowly shrinking for several hundred million years, leading many to suggest the next supercontinent will form through the closing of the Pacific.

But unsurprisingly, there are plenty of hypotheses speculating how the world’s continents will shift over the next few hundred million years. One configuration, dubbed Pangaea Proxima, suggests the Atlantic and Indian oceans will ultimately close, creating a supercontinent not entirely unlike Pangaea. Another hypothesis proposes the Atlantic and Pacific oceans will both close, with a rift splitting Eurasia from India to the Arctic creating a supercontinent called Aurica.

The new research used 4-D geodynamic modeling to predict tectonic movement over hundreds of millions of years. According to Huang, the results indicate it is most likely the Pacific Ocean will close, and in less than 300 million years time a supercontinent called Amasia will form.

“The resulting new supercontinent has already been named Amasia because some believe that the Pacific Ocean will close (as opposed to the Atlantic and Indian oceans) when America collides with Asia,” said Huang. “Australia is also expected to play a role in this important Earth event, first colliding with Asia and then connecting America and Asia once the Pacific Ocean closes.”

Study co-author Zheng-Xiang Li said the planet’s ecosystems will be wildly different by the time Amasia has formed. The massive supercontinent would inevitably feature a superhot arid interior.

“Currently, Earth consists of seven continents with widely different ecosystems and human cultures, so it would be fascinating to think what the world might look like in 200 to 300 million years’ time,” said Li.

The new study was published in National Science Review.

Source: Curtin University

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8 comments
vince
When Amasia form then all the human races will merge into one.... Will all be brothers. Amen.
P51d007
Well, given the state of humanity around the globe today, I seriously doubt the human species will be around to witness this.
Tag
It’s weird to imagine how something seemingly inevitable would happen in a way essentially imperceptible to any human perspective. If by some miracle humanity lasts 300M years, and even retains knowledge and records of our time now, the idea of our distinct continents will be as impossible to imagine to them as this super continent is to us, as would be any geologic state in between.
CarolynFarstrider
Highly unlikely that the human race will be around to see this unless we alter our ways dramatically very soon. Amnesia might be a better name.
CraigAllenCorson
Well. I can't wait! I've always wanted to see China, but it's been too far to walk. This will bring it closer, and I won't have to even get my feet wet!
DavidB
Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) human beings will have ceased to exist long before this happens.
Username
Looking forward to driving to Singapore !
clay
It should be renamed Elephantia ... It is clearly Mother Earthaphant.