What If All the Continents Joined together?
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| What If All the Continents Joined together?- whatifhub.com |
What if one day the regions joined into one giant landmass again and you could travel from North America to Africa on foot?
This is whatifhub, and here's what would happen if the continents merged together. Did you know the ground below you is actually moving right now?
This is because all seven continents sit on the tectonic plates that Earth's crust is split into. These plates are floating on the molten rock at the equal speed your fingernails grow.
It may sound slow, but it does add up over centuries of millions of years. In the 4.5-billion-year history of Earth, our continents have replaced their appearance many times.
Our continents have changed their appearance many times. Sometimes fusing together in crunching collisions, and sometimes breaking separate.
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Right now they are gradually moving toward another collision.
What would happen if all the continents were connected
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| what would happen if all the continents were connected- whatifhub.com |
What if one day all suddenly sped up and broke into a supercontinent again? Would you wake up to discover yourself at the Mexican border?
The world would look very strange from what you're used to. If the plates collided in the direction they are moving now, the flight from Australia to Asia would never be reasonable.
Since Australia would collide with Japan, Korea, and China, the two continents would no longer be divided by the Atlantic Ocean.
And if you're really into walking, you'd also be ready to travel from sunny Australia to the world's coldest continent, Antarctica, on foot. North America would bump into western Africa.
Citizens of New York might wake up to discover Namibian lions roaming through Central Park. The northern part of Africa would smash into Europe.
This would build a new Himalayan-scale mountain range on the border of the tectonic plates. Imagine camels would enjoy a chilly day on a snow hill?
Some of these changes may sound fun, but there would be some terrible news, too. The eastern side of the Americas, along with Western Europe and Africa, would turn into an earthquake danger region.
On top of that, these areas would be destroyed by the eruptions of newly-formed volcanoes. Green slopes of the Appalachians would enhance giant snow-covered mountains spewing ash and lava.
Pangea map
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| pangea map- whatifhub.com |
This new Pangaea would mostly be arid and warm, as rain clouds would lose most of the moisture before getting too far inland. As rain clouds would lose the maximum of the moisture before getting too far inland.
The supercontinent would be centered at the equator. Wildlife would become less diverse as not all species can carry hot temperatures.
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Wildlife would become less distinct as not all species can bear hot temperatures. But just like the newest continental mashup, this reunion wouldn't last forever.
But just like the most recent continental mashup, this reunion wouldn't last permanently. Well, not longer than 50 million years.
Volcanic eruptions would be spewing out massive volumes of lava and gas. Add destructive earthquakes to the equation, and you'd see these dangerous regions start to pull themselves apart.
Stirred by warm currents below, the supercontinent would eventually break apart into shorter continents going their separate ways.
If bordering Australia looks like a cool thing to you - bad luck, you won't see this occurring any time soon.
But you can always imagine how the world would look if the giant continental pieces of the puzzle came together. Give the planet 300 million years, and there will be different supercontinent.
Geologists already gave it a name. What would you name it?
* This article was originally published here
