Will There Be Another Supercontinent?
Geologists are beginning to say that there will be another super continent called Amasia, uniting the North and South America, then move to connect with Asia, making a supercontinent, like Pangea, the theory of all the continents being one in the beginning, then separating into different continents. Researchers believe that this supercontinent will occur in the Atlantic Ocean, in Africa’s boundaries, or on the other side of the world, bringing the Americas and Asia together.
Another study shows that this supercontinent may form in present day Arctic Ocean. “ ‘The fusion of North and South America together will close the Caribbean Sea and meet Eurasia at the present-day North Pole,’ ” a geologist from Yale observed. They believe that the continent of Australia is moving north, which will at some point merge with Asia, in between Japan and India.
In order to prove their theory, they created a model of the past supercontinents, and using paleomagnetic data, also known as the measurement of the force between the earth’s rocks, the saw that the continents rotated back and forth along the equator. This, they called “true polar wander” and using the true polar wander, they determined past supercontinents’ centers, finding a pattern: each super continent was separated by 90 degrees.
Since we began the unit of Geology, it interested me to find out more about supercontinents, how they separated into different continents, and I also wanted to know if there was ever going to be such a great movement of continents, so that it would form another supercontinent.
I found this article about Amasia, and the theory of Yale University’s geologist very interesting, because they made a model to represent past theories, and they were able to find a patter between all of them, allowing them to make their own theory more accurate.
I believe that knowing about supercontinents can be very informative, but since it will happen, if it happens, over a large time period, all people in this planet and in further generations will not be alive to see this happen, like Pangea, which separated about 200 million years ago.
Bhanoo, Sindya N. "Next Supercontinent Will Form in Arctic, Geologists Say."Http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/14/science/amasia-supercontinent-will-form-in-the-arctic-geologists-predict.html?_r=1&ref=science. New York Times, 8 Feb. 2012. Web. 11 Feb. 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/14/science/amasia-supercontinent-will-form-in-the-arctic-geologists-predict.html?_r=1&ref=science>.
Another study shows that this supercontinent may form in present day Arctic Ocean. “ ‘The fusion of North and South America together will close the Caribbean Sea and meet Eurasia at the present-day North Pole,’ ” a geologist from Yale observed. They believe that the continent of Australia is moving north, which will at some point merge with Asia, in between Japan and India.
In order to prove their theory, they created a model of the past supercontinents, and using paleomagnetic data, also known as the measurement of the force between the earth’s rocks, the saw that the continents rotated back and forth along the equator. This, they called “true polar wander” and using the true polar wander, they determined past supercontinents’ centers, finding a pattern: each super continent was separated by 90 degrees.
Since we began the unit of Geology, it interested me to find out more about supercontinents, how they separated into different continents, and I also wanted to know if there was ever going to be such a great movement of continents, so that it would form another supercontinent.
I found this article about Amasia, and the theory of Yale University’s geologist very interesting, because they made a model to represent past theories, and they were able to find a patter between all of them, allowing them to make their own theory more accurate.
I believe that knowing about supercontinents can be very informative, but since it will happen, if it happens, over a large time period, all people in this planet and in further generations will not be alive to see this happen, like Pangea, which separated about 200 million years ago.
Bhanoo, Sindya N. "Next Supercontinent Will Form in Arctic, Geologists Say."Http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/14/science/amasia-supercontinent-will-form-in-the-arctic-geologists-predict.html?_r=1&ref=science. New York Times, 8 Feb. 2012. Web. 11 Feb. 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/14/science/amasia-supercontinent-will-form-in-the-arctic-geologists-predict.html?_r=1&ref=science>.
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