New research showed the earth could evolve further to transform the scattered continents into a pair of massive supercontinents in approximately 200 to 300 million years.
A Republicworld.com report said geologists who have examined the Earth's evolution for several decades had demonstrated a new "deep future" view for the Earth.
According to the new study, this planet could further evolve to transform the scattered continents into a pair of the massive supercontinent, which is approximately between 200 and 300 million years.
This planet began to grow approximately 4.56 billion years ago and has evolved in size, shape, and climactic conditions since then.
Essentially, the Earth's evolution is characterized by the tectonic plates' movement, which gives rise to the landmasses' shifting and the new physical features' formation like plateaus or mountain ridges.
The newest studies by respected geologists have anticipated an event known as "Pangaea Proxima," because of the most recent changes in the movements of tectonic plates.
Probable Situations
Now, research carried out on the climate impacts of the tectonics, rotation rate, and isolation has explored two probable situations, out of which one is the supercontinent's formation at low latitudes.
Meaning, the continents at the equator could collect to form a gigantic landmass known as "Aurica," while the other continents located in the northern hemisphere could be pushed upward further to form another supercontinent on the North Pole, also known as "Amasia," according to India Today through MSN News.
Nonetheless, the geologists predicted that the Antarctic subcontinent would stay where it is because of the stark differences in mean surface temperatures. The study anticipated took that Aurica's formation could greatly affect the topography of Earth.
When it comes to the climate scenarios, the research utilizes the projections of solar luminosity, the rotation rate of Earth, and plate tectonics; therefore, it found that both the predicted scenarios will have vast climactic variances.
The scientists associated the large-scale evolution with climate changes. Such differences in the mean surface temperatures of the said two scenarios vary by several degrees Celsius while being distant as well, in the total surface area, in which the retained temperatures enabling liquid water to exist the whole year, the said research specified.
In addition, it would lead to the formation of ice sheets, which would reflect more of the heat of the Sun.
Earth in Transformation Process
The paper specified, the earth is halfway through the transformation process. It specifically said, Pangaea, described in the USGS site, formed roughly 310 million years ago and began to break up approximately 180 million years back.
The next supercontinent is most likely to form between 200 million and 250 million years, which means the Earth is about halfway through the scattered stage of the present supercontinent cycle.
As suggested by the theory of evolution, the earth was not like what it is at present, and it is more possible to stay the same in the future.
According to the scientists, the lone habitable planet on the solar system is halfway through the new supercontinent's formation, the same as the one that was there roughly 250 million years ago known as "Pangaea."
This report indicated, Pangea was a supercontinent that existed during the Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras until it began to break apart some 175 years back.
This research was published in Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems journal by renowned geologists, including Michael Way, working at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
Related information about Supercontinent Pangaea is shown on Riddle's YouTube video below:
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