Over the next 200 to 300 million years as the Pacific Ocean shrinks Asia will collide with the Americas to form a new landmass a supercontinent scientists have dubbed “Amazia.” Researchers from Australia’s Curtin University and Peking University in China have used a supercomputer to model future land formations and found that shifting tectonic plates could eventually result in Asia colliding with the Americas.
“Over the past two billion years, Earth’s continents have collided to form a supercontinent every 600 million years, known as the supercontinent cycle. This means that the current continents are due to rejoin in a few hundred million years,” he said. Dr Chuan Huang, lead author of the article published in the National Science Review.
“Our results rule out the possibility of the future supercontinent Amasia being assembled either by introversion by closing the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, or by orthoversion by closing the Arctic and Caribbean Seas. Instead, Amasia could have extroverted assembly only by closing the Pacific Ocean due to weakening of the oceanic lithosphere with time.” “…some believe that the Pacific Ocean will close (as opposed to the Atlantic and Indian) when America collides with Asia.
Australia is also expected to play a role in this important event on Earth, colliding with Asia first and after that, it connects the Americas and Asia The Pacific Ocean is closing,” Huang added. The scientists said the new supercontinent would first form in the northern hemisphere and then slowly move south towards the equator. If that happens, it means that Antarctica will still remain secluded at the South Pole.
