The Next Supercontinent Is Already Taking Shape

Now, history teaches us that the supercontinent existed a long time ago, around 300 to 273 million years back.

At that time, all the continents on Earth were buddies and hanging out together.

They formed an amazing crew called Pangaea, or Pangaea, if you're feeling fancy.

The name comes from a Greek word, which means all the Earth.

Pangaea also had a massive water neighbor called Pantholosa, so our entire world was a huge piece of land surrounded by a huge piece of ocean.

The mega-continent looked like a giant sea stretching between the tippy top and bottom of our planet.

But as stories go, things change.

About 200 million years ago, in the early Jurassic era, like dinosaur times, Pangaea decided to throw a breakaway party.

Forget about the old ideas of continents just drifting around like big icebergs, it split up into smaller chunks, forming the continents we know today.

Oh, and it created the Atlantic and Indian oceans as a bonus.

Pangaea's tail was first told by a German weather expert named Alfred Wegener in 1912.

But how did he learn about something that happened so long ago?

Imagine the Earth's core as a big, cozy fireplace giving off heat.

This heat creates special swirling currents in the Earth's outer shell.

We can think of it as the Earth's crust, which looks like a big puzzle with many puzzle pieces.

The hot currents make these puzzle pieces, called crustoplates, move around.

Sometimes they push apart, sometimes they crash into each other, and sometimes they slide past one another.

It's like a fantastic dance party that goes on beneath our feet.

One day, Wegener looked at the shapes of the continents and thought that, hey, those coastlines of South America and Africa kind of fit together.

And they really did.

So he imagined that way back, all of the continents hung out together as one big landmass.

But he couldn't just go and say that without any proof.

So how do we know, Pen?

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And jeer really was a thing.

Well, there are some clues that brought us to this amazing discovery.

One clue is like when you put a puzzle together and the pieces fit just right.

Take a look at the shapes of today's continents.

You'll notice that they could fit together almost like a perfect match.

Obviously, their shapes changed over time.

It happened millions of years ago.

And since then, the shores of continents have been washed by waters for years.

But even so, we can still see how well they fit together.

Another clue comes from checking out fossils.

We know that ancient animals left a lot of fossils behind.

That's how we learned their history and what species there were.

But when scientists compared fossils found on different continents, they found something interesting.

These fossils look similar.

And surprisingly, they belonged to the same groups of animals, even though they were far apart.

It's not like these animals could swim across the ocean on their forepaws.

And it's unlikely that this particular type of animal originated in two places at the same time.

And finally, the mountains.

Imagine exploring underwater and finding huge mountains in the oceans.

These underwater ranges and deep trenches are like scars from when Earth's tectonic plates moved around.

They serve as another proof that the continents are part of something bigger.

When you look at these things together, you get a pretty clear picture.

The Earth's continents were once huddled together in the supercontinent.

They've since gone their separate ways.

But the memories of their grand adventure are still written in the shapes of coastlines,

the rocks they left behind, and many more.

It's obvious to us now.

At the time of Wagner's discovery, there were different ideas flying around.

Some folks thought that the continents sank down to make the oceans.

But Wagner had a different take.

He thought that the continents are always on the move.

He even came up with a fancy phrase, Continental Drift, to explain it.

Later, he was joined by another scientist named Alexander Dutoy.

He added a little twist to the story, suggesting there were two original continents,

Laurasia in the North, and Gondwanda in the South.

But the real party didn't start until the 1960s,

when scientists figured out the secret ingredient in this recipe, plate tectonics.

And finally, this theory explained everything Wagner and Dutoy talked about.

Wagner's theory was proven correct after 50 years.

At the time passed, we learned more and more about our planet.

We found out that the Earth used to have multiple supercontinents.

Before Pangaea, there was a mega-continent called Rodinia around a billion years ago.

And later on, Pinotia joined the scene about 600 million years ago.

What's interesting is that the Continental Drift story is far from over.

Our continents are always on the move.

It's giving Europe a friendly bump.

And Australia is playing a game of bumper cars with Southeast Asia.

You know what's on the horizon?

Another supercontinent.

So how will this next supercontinent come together?

Well, there are four major possibilities.

Novo Pangaea, Pangaea Ultima, Orica, and Amasia.

These might sound like superhero names, but they're actually ways the puzzle pieces could fit.

Let's look at them all.

First, Novo Pangaea.

You know how there's the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other?

Well, if these oceans keep doing what they're doing now,

the Atlantic will keep opening up while the Pacific squeezes in.

If that happens, the Americas, North and South America,

will give each other a big high five.

And an article that icy land way down south will join the fun too.

It'll be drifting northward.

Next, Pangaea Ultima.

In the future, the Atlantic Ocean might get tired of being so wide.

It might decide to slow down and shrink a bit.

The Americas and the Northward Drifting Antarctica will probably crash into Africa and Europe.

And just like that, a brand new supercontinent forms.

There are these spots where the ocean floor is sliding underneath the land.

It's like a secret underwater passage.

The spots are called subduction zones.

So if the secret tunnels will be spreading and spreading all along the east coast of the Americas,

the Americas, Europe, and Africa might come together again.

And they'd form a supercontinent.

This supercontinent would be surrounded by the Pacific Ocean.

The next possible supercontinent is Orica.

In this scenario, the Pacific and Atlantic oceans might decide to take a nap and close up.

Don't worry, because when one door closes, another opens.

In this case, a whole new ocean would pop up to replace them.

Imagine a big crack in the ground cutting through Asia, like a zipper opening up.

This crack is called the Pangaean Riff, and it would become a brand new ocean.

With this new ocean comes a new supercontinent, Orica.

Australia is currently drifting northwards, like it's trying to find a nice spot

at the center of our planet.

East Asia and the Americas might join in from both sides.

After that, Europe and Africa might link up with the Americas and boom, Orica.

And finally, Amasia.

It might form if some of the tectonic plates go north.

They can take continents like Africa and Australia along for the ride.

They'll be hanging out around the North Pole.

All the continents, except Antarctica, might come together.

And even though they might gather around the North Pole, they won't close off the oceans.

The Atlantic and Pacific oceans would still be open for business.

How this Grand Reunion happens depends on the Earth's tectonic movements.

So far, we believe that Novo Pangaea is the most likely scenario.

It also depends on what exactly happened to Pangaea after it broke apart.

And when the new supercontinent appears, what's going to happen with the weather?

How will the ocean behave?

And what about the animals and plants?

These questions all light up our minds.

Who knows?

Maybe someday, our descendants will look at the world map

and see this incredible journey come full circle.

So keep asking curious questions and stay tuned for the next 100 million years.

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