Experts say that the new supercontinent will be created in 200 million years

KOMPAS.com – Scientists say, if superbenua as Pangea will form on the planet in 200 million years.

This was revealed after scientists did display modeling Earth in the future.

Their findings were then presented at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) which was held online, Wednesday (8/12/2020).

As quoted from Live Science, Tuesday (15/12/2020) from the modeling carried out, researchers got two scenarios for the formation of the supercontinent.

First, about 200 million years in the future, nearly all continent pushed into the Northern Hemisphere, while Antarctica will be left alone in the Southern Hemisphere. Superbenua this by the researcher is called Amasia.

Also read: Study Reveals All Penguins Are From The Lost 8th Continent

Meanwhile, in the second scenario, about 250 million years from now, the supercontinent will form around the equator and expand to the hemisphere earth north and south. This supercontinent is named Aurica.

According to study lead author Michael Way, a scientist at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, Earth’s continents didn’t always look what they do today.

Over the past 3 billion years or so, the planet has cycled through several periods.

Continent the first time, was still an enormous supercontinent. Only then did it break like now.

A relatively recent supercontinent is Pangea, which existed around 300 million to 200 million years ago. Pangea then split into what is now Africa, Europe, North America and South America.

While before Pangea was the supercontinent Rodinia, which existed from 900 million to 700 million years ago, then Nuna, which was formed 1.6 billion years ago and broke up 1.4 billion years ago.

Also read: Stories from Antarctica, a Continent Unaffected by Corona

Supercontinents and Drastic Climate Change

The formation of the supercontinent could drastically affect Earth’s climate.

According to researchers, in addition to discovering changes in plate tectonics, the Earth in the future will spin a little slower than it is today.

The luminosity of the sun will also increase slightly in 250 million years. So that the global temperature becomes almost 4 degrees Celsius cooler.

“The rate of rotation of the Earth slows down over time, another 250 million years, the length of the day will increase by about 30 minutes,” said Way.

This will have an impact on the forming supercontinent in the future.

According to Way, the Amasia Supercontinent in the northern hemisphere will experience permanent snow and ice cover during the summer and winter months, causing a much longer ice age. It could even be for 100 to 150 million years.

Also read: These Remnants of Rock Minerals in Northern Canada Reveal the Existence of an Ancient Continent

What does that mean for life on Earth? As the tropical lowlands disappear, so does the biodiversity that lives in them.

However, on the other hand, new species may emerge and will adapt to survive in extremely cold environments, as they did during previous ice ages.

“When you give it time, evolution will find a way to fill every ecological niche in some way. Especially over a span of 100 million years or more, that’s a long time for evolution to work,” Way said.

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