Over the course of a billion years, the plates that cover Earth are enough to travel across the planet.
In order to see how the giant slabs of rock have interacted over time, scientists have created a video clip of 1 billion years of movement.
They're more than just a covering for the planet, they're a life support system that affects everything that lives on the surface.
"For the first time a complete model of tectonics has been built, including all the boundaries," said Michael Tetley, who finished his PhD at the University of Australia.
The animation shows that the continents have been everywhere in time. It used to be a nice place to go for a holiday at the equator.
If you watch the video, you'll see that the land mass that is near neighbors becomes distant cousins and the land mass that is on the other side of the world becomes closer to each other.
Understanding the movements and patterns of our planet is important if we are going to find the metal resources we need to ensure a clean energy future.
Plate movement is estimated through the study of the geological record, which includes magnetism and the types of material locked in rock samples that help match the pieces of past geological plate puzzles together.
The team looked at both the movements of the continents and the interactions along plate boundaries to find the most suitable models.
The surface of Planet Earth is constantly changing in a way that is unique to the known rocky planets.
A fascinating dance is revealed when a billion years is compressed into 40 seconds. The oceans are open and close to each other.
The more scientists go into the past, the more difficult it is to estimate how plates have moved, and in this case the Neoproterozoic to Cambrian eras were carefully mapped and brought in line with the more modern records that we have.
Every new data point helps to understand the ancient history of Earth, even accounting for missing plates in some models.
The scientists admit that their work doesn't have a lot of detail, but they hope that it can be used as a foundation for future studies of these movements and the impact they have on everything else.
Dietmar Mller said that their team has created a new model of Earth evolution.
Our planet is special in how it hosts life. The life-support system provided by plate tectonics is what makes this possible.
The research was published in the journal Earth- Science Reviews.
There was a previous version of this article.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
