Disappearing oceans and supercontinents will keep the earth warm. Ancient supercontinents The first supercontinent on earth is called

Supercontinent... Spelling Dictionary

Exist., number of synonyms: 15 amazia (2) america (31) afroeurasia (1) ... Synonym dictionary

A supercontinent in plate tectonics is a continent containing almost all of the Earth's continental crust. A study of the history of the movements of the continents showed that with a frequency of about 600 million years, all continental blocks are assembled into a single block, which ... ... Wikipedia

Geological time in the form of a diagram depicting the relative sizes of epochs in the history of the Earth ... Wikipedia

This term has other meanings, see Continent (meanings). Continental models of Conti ... Wikipedia

The geological time presented on the diagram is called the geological clock, showing the relative length ... Wikipedia

Scorched Earth after the transition of the Sun to the phase of the red giant in the representation of the artist ... Wikipedia

A simplified map of Pangea A supercontinent cycle is a theory in geology that describes the periodic joining and separating of continents. Scientists disagree on changes in the volume of the continental ... Wikipedia

Geochronological scale Eon Era Period Phanerozoic ... Wikipedia

The split of Pangea into modern continents The theory of continental drift was first proposed by the German geographer Alfred Wegener and describes the movement, joining and splitting of the continents, based on plate tectonics. Of particular interest are those ... ... Wikipedia

Books

• Monsters of the Triassic, Crumpton Nick. About the book Get ready to embark on an exciting journey into the Triassic era - a time when the waters of the world's oceans were washed by a single supercontinent, Pangea, and the Earth was inhabited by terrible ...
• Triassic monsters. Games with the first dinosaurs, Crumpton N.. Get ready to go on an exciting journey into the Triassic era - at a time when the waters of the world's oceans were washed by one single supercontinent Pangea, and the Earth was inhabited by terrible ...

Using paleomagnetic data, modern theory of the formation of the earth's crust and latest methods determining the age of the rocks of the lithosphere, at the end of the twentieth century, Russian scientists O.G. Sorokhtin and S.A. Ushakov restored more ancient situations in the ratio of land and sea, the distribution of continents and ancient ocean beds on our planet. As a result, a conclusion was drawn about the existence in the geological history of the Earth, in addition to A. Wegener's Pangea, three more supercontinents.

The change in the volume of water on Earth occurred mainly in the course of the evolution of continents and reached a maximum 1.5 billion years ago in the Lower Riphean. During 1.4 billion years of the Archean period (4-2.6 billion years ago), large continents did not exist. First major continent monogaea originated on our planet about 2.6 billion years ago at the time of the formation of a dense oxide-iron core near the Earth in the process of differentiation of terrestrial matter. Its remains, due to the coincidence of the age of the rocks and the direction of the ancient magnetic field recorded in them, were found in different parts of our planet ( fig.1.11a) Under the influence of convective flows varying in power and direction 2.2 billion years ago, the first continent broke up into small fragments - cratons (fig.2b). Their remains are, for example, the rocks of the Great Dike in Zimbabwe, which are 2.4 billion years old.

1.8 billion years ago for a similar reason, the second continent in the geological history of the Earth was formed Megagea . Its existence was assumed as early as 1944 by the similarity of the geological structure of various ancient blocks on the North American, European and Siberian platforms, in Australia and South America.

Fig.1.11. Ancient supercontinents:

MONOGEA - 2.6 billion liters. back (a); MEGAGEYAYA - 1.8 billion liters. back (b); MESOGEA (RODINIA) - 1 billion years ago (c)

(Arrows - direction of magnetic field lines; Blocks: Av - Australia; SAm and YuAm - North and South America; An - Antarctica; ZAF - West Africa; Af - Africa; Ev - Europe; Ying - India; K - North and South China ; Sat - Siberia

In just 100-150 million years about 1.7 billion years ago there were signs of the collapse of Megagea, which ended completely about 1.4 billion liters. n. . Geological traces of this process (fault tectonics) aged 1.5-1.4 billion years (Riphean period) are today found on the North American and Russian platforms.

After combining coeval folded mobile belts of the Earth's surface and paleomagnetic reconstructions, the third supercontinent of the planet was restored Mesogeia (Rodinia), formed 1 billion years ago ). But after 100-150 million years, it split into two parts, divided 850 million liters n wide (6-10 thousand km) oceanic basin Prototethys At the same time, all the promodern northern continents united into a supercontinent Laurasia, and pro-modern southern - amounted to gondwana, which 800-750 million liters n moved to the North and South Poles, respectively ( fig.1.12).

Fig.1.12. The breakup of MESOGEA into LAURASIA and GONDWANA 800-750 million years ago (Mn - Mongolian plate; Am - Amur plate; Ir - Iranian plate. Blocks - according to Fig. 1.11)

In the equatorial zone of the Prototethys ocean, a powerful trade wind current with oppositely directed branches in temperate latitudes was established, blocking the flow of heat to the continents in high latitudes. As a result, the African-Australian glaciation of Gondwana and the Canadian glaciation of Laurasia began in the second half of the Late Riphean. At the same time ( 800 million years ago ) in the zone of the Grenville mobile belt of Laurasia, which soldered the eastern coast of North America and Greenland with the European platform, a new Proto-Atlantic ocean Iapetus 2000 km wide, and on the site of modern Western Siberia - a narrow Paleouralian ocean.

Further decay ( 650 million years ago ) Gondwana was accompanied by the formation of narrow troughs (lodges) West African and Brazilian suboceans (Red Sea type), as well as African-Australian ocean basin ( fig.1.13).

Fig.1.13. Breakup of LAURASIA AND GONDWANA 650 million years ago.
(Ar - Arabian plate. Further - according to Fig. 1.11, 1.12)

This fact is confirmed by the similarity of the geological structure of the Mozambique belt (Africa), the Adelaide geosyncline (Australia) and the Transantarctic Mountains in Antarctica, which at that time were passive continental margins. Thus, the "body" of the ocean - the water mass, exists as long as the continents exist for about 4 billion years. It was formed simultaneously with the continents.

The asymmetry of the position of Laurasia and Gondwana in the polar latitudes and their continuing drift led to the fact that 550 million years ago The Earth, seeking to move to a stable state, changed the orientation of the axes of the main moment of inertia, turning 90 ° with respect to the geographic poles. As a result, West Africa ended up at the South Pole, and North America, Europe and Australia at the equator. Block Western Europe at this time it separated from West Africa and began to drift towards the European platform with which it connected. Most of the continents, thus, ended up in low latitudes, which explains the emergence of the warm climate of the Earth in the Cambrian period (500-600 million years ago).

The next rotation of the Earth by 90 ° around an axis perpendicular to the axis of its rotation, which happened (according to calculations) 400-200 million years ago in the early Paleozoic, led to the formation at the end of the Paleozoic 200 million years ago fourth supercontinent Pangea (see Fig. 1.5.1), which, judging by the paleomagnetic data that confirmed Wegener's brilliant guesses, after 140 million years again broke up into its constituent parts, which began a centrifugal drift up to the present position.

Geological Epochs. According to these studies, there is a so-called supercontinent cycle, in which continental blocks with a periodicity of about 600 million years. go through a supercontinent phase followed by a fragmentation phase. There are hypotheses linking the supercontinental cycle with the periodic transition of the Earth's mantle from a single-cell circulation system, when all descending flows are directed under the supercontinent, to a two-cell system of currents.

Modern continents made up the supercontinent Pangea approximately 400-200 million years ago. The current geological epoch belongs to the fragmentation phase, which peaked in the Cretaceous period. Based on the extrapolation of current geological processes, it is assumed that after 100-200 million years. the land will again gather into a single array. Formed in the Cenozoic, Eurasia is the basis of the future supercontinent, the observed movement of Africa suggests that already after 15-20 million years. it will also form a single whole with Europe, and on the site of the Mediterranean Sea, a salt desert will first appear, and then mountain ranges will rise that are not inferior to the Himalayas. Australia is also likely to join Asia in 60 million years. Predictions about further tectonic processes, estimates of factors that will affect the movements of continents differ among researchers, so there are several models for the folding of the future supercontinent: Pangea Ultima, Amasia and Neopangea, but all of them suggest the formation of a supercontinent after ~ 200 million years.

Ancient supercontinents

It is not yet possible to make confident statements about the amount of continental crust in the Archean: it is possible that there were land blocks that today are not represented in the lithosphere by obvious traces. However, it is likely that the continental crust began to form in the Archaean and reached near-modern distribution values ​​during the Proterozoic, so that the first supercontinents were not large massifs, but are so named (by definition) because they contained virtually all of the continental crust of their era.

• Vaalbara (~3.6 billion years ago)
• Ur (~3 billion years ago)
• Kenorland (~2.7 billion years ago)
• Columbia, also known as Nuna, (~1.8-1.5 billion years ago)
• Rodinia (~1.1 billion years ago - ~750 million years ago)
• Pannotia (~600-540 million years ago)
• Lavrussia (~300 million years ago)
• Pangea (~300-180 million years ago)

Possible future supercontinents

Scientists predict the formation of another supercontinent after hundreds of millions of years. Africa will merge with Europe, Australia will continue to move north and unite with Asia, and the Atlantic Ocean, after some expansion, will disappear altogether. Due to the approach of the African Plate, rose mountain systems The Alps and the Pyrenees, and Greece and Turkey are disturbed by earthquakes. As well as cold air spreads in the lower layers, the dense seabed sometimes settles below the earth's crust and pulls the edge of the platform along with it.

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Notes

Literature

• Xiao Xuchang & Liu Hefu (eds). Global Tectonic Zones: Supercontinent Formation and Disposal. Proceedings of the 30th International Geological Congress. Utrecht - Tokyo: VSP, 1997.
• Nield, Ted, Supercontinentst: Ten Billion Years in the Life of Our Planet, Harvard University Press, 2009, ISBN 978-0674032453
• Small mountain encyclopedia. In 3 volumes = Small hand encyclopedia / (In Ukrainian). Ed. V. S. Beletsky. - Donetsk: Donbass, 2004. - ISBN 966-7804-14-3.

Links

• (eng.) - Reconstruction of past supercontinents at Scotese

History of the Earth Physical properties of the Earth Shells of the Earth Geography and geology Environment see also

Continents Continents Parts of the world ancient continents and supercontinents ancient platforms Possible future supercontinents

An excerpt characterizing the Supercontinent

"Mon pere ne m" a pas parle du pretendant, mais il m "a dit seulement qu" il a recu une lettre et attendait une visite du prince Basile. Pour ce qui est du projet de Marieiage qui me regarde, je vous dirai, chere et excellente amie, que le Marieiage, selon moi,est une institution divine a laquelle il faut se conformer. Quelque penible que cela soit pour moi, si le Tout Puissant m "impose jamais les devoirs d" epouse et de mere, je tacherai de les remplir aussi fidelement que je le pourrai, sans m"inquieter de l"examen de mes sentiments a l"egard de celui qu"il me donnera pour epoux. J"ai recu une lettre de mon frere, qui m"annonce son arrivee a Bald Mountains avec sa femme. Ce sera une joie de courte duree, puisqu "il nous quitte pour prendre part a cette malheureuse guerre, a laquelle nous sommes entraines Dieu sait, comment et pourquoi. Non seulement chez vous au center des affaires et du monde on ne parle que de guerre, mais ici, au milieu de ces travaux champetres et de ce calme de la nature, que les citadins se representent ordinairement a la campagne, les bruits de la guerre se font entendre et sentir peniblement. Mon pere ne parle que Marieche et contreMarieche, choses auxquelles je ne comprends rien; et avant hier en faisant ma promenade habituelle dans la rue du village, je fus temoin d "une scene dechirante… C" etait un convoi des recrues enroles chez nous et expedies pour l "armee… Il fallait voir l" etat dans lequel se trouvant les meres, les femmes, les enfants des hommes qui partaient et entendre les sanglots des uns et des autres!
On dirait que l "humanite a oublie les lois de son divin Sauveur, Qui prechait l" amour et le pardon des offenses, et qu "elle fait consister son plus grand merite dans l" art de s "entretuer.
"Adieu, chere et bonne amie, que notre divin Sauveur et Sa tres Sainte Mere vous aient en Leur sainte et puissante garde. Marie."
[Dear and priceless friend. Your letter of the 13th brought me great joy. You still love me, my poetic Julia. The separation, of which you speak so many evil things, apparently did not have its usual influence on you. You complain about separation, what should I say if I dared - I, deprived of all those who are dear to me? Ah, if we did not have a religion to console us, life would be very sad. Why do you attribute a stern look to me when you speak of your inclination towards a young man? In this regard, I am only strict with myself. I understand these feelings in others, and if I cannot approve of them, having never experienced them, then I do not condemn them. It only seems to me that Christian love, love for one's neighbor, love for one's enemies, is more worthy, sweeter and better than those feelings that the beautiful eyes of a young man can inspire in a young girl, poetic and loving, like you.
The news of the death of Count Bezukhov reached us before your letter, and my father was very touched by it. He says that this was the penultimate representative of the great age, and that now it is his turn, but that he will do everything in his power to make this turn come as late as possible. Deliver us God from this misfortune.
I cannot share your opinion about Pierre, whom I knew as a child. It seemed to me that he always had a wonderful heart, and this is the quality that I most appreciate in people. As for his inheritance and the role that Prince Vasily played in this, this is very sad for both. Ah, dear friend, the words of our Divine Savior, that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God—these words are terribly true. I feel sorry for Prince Vasily and even more for Pierre. So young to be burdened with such a huge fortune - how many temptations he will have to go through! If someone asked me what I want more than anything in the world, I want to be poorer than the poorest of the poor. Thank you a thousand times, dear friend, for the book you are sending me and which makes so much noise with you. However, since you tell me that among many good things in it there are those that the weak human mind cannot comprehend, it seems to me superfluous to engage in incomprehensible reading, which, for this very reason, could not bring any benefit. I have never been able to understand the passion that some people have, to confuse their thoughts, addicted to mystical books, which only arouse doubts in their minds, irritate their imagination and give them a character of exaggeration, completely contrary to Christian simplicity.
Let's read better the Apostles and the Gospel. Let us not try to penetrate what is mysterious in these books, for how can we, miserable sinners, know the terrible and sacred secrets of Providence as long as we bear on ourselves that carnal shell that erects an impenetrable veil between us and the Eternal? Let us rather confine ourselves to the study of the great rules which our Divine Savior has left us for our guidance here on earth; let us try to follow them and try to make sure that the less we give revelry to our mind, the more pleasing we will be to God, who rejects all knowledge that does not come from Him, and that the less we go into what He was pleased to hide from us, the sooner He will give us this revelation with His divine mind.

Everything flows, everything changes. The whole world around us is in motion. Even the ground literally leaves from under the feet, although this is not very noticeable. Seas and oceans, continents and archipelagos - nothing knows peace. For the time being: alas, sooner or later the geological life of the planet will stop. But there is a way to delay the sentence - with the help of oceans and supercontinents.

Now every schoolchild knows that the Earth's shell is heterogeneous and consists of relatively solid plates that are in constant motion. However, the mechanisms that control tectonic activity are a very complex thing.

Despite all the elegance and logic of the concept “some plates move apart while others collide”, in each case the geophysical processes are so intricate that it is not an easy task to describe in detail, for example, the formation of mountain ranges.

The shell of the Earth is called the lithosphere. It includes the hard crust and the coldest, viscous part of the upper mantle. Continental and oceanic shells are different. In simplified terms, they are granites and basalts. Some platforms are composed exclusively of oceanic crust, while others consist of a continental block "soldered" into the oceanic one. Here's how it looks in numbers: the thickness of the continental lithosphere is from 40 to 200 kilometers (and according to some estimates up to 400), including the crust - from 30 to 50 kilometers; the thickness of the oceanic lithosphere is from 50 to 100 kilometers, including the crust - from 7 to 10 kilometers. Note that these data are approximate and may be refined in the future (illustration by U. S. Geological Survey).

And the "mobile" point of view was established relatively recently - in the 1960s and 1970s. Prior to this, "stationary" representations dominated. For example, mountains, according to a hypothesis widespread at the beginning of the 20th century, were born like wrinkles on a dried apple - as the bark cooled.

Subsequently, a number of other theories appeared, but all of them somehow rejected the very possibility of the movement of continents. Even calls to compare the lines of the coasts of Africa and South America, which seem to form an obvious puzzle, did not make any impression on official science.

The main reason for skepticism was the absence of a visible reason for the drift of the continents: the force pushing them must be huge. But what is its source?

There are eight largest plates: North American, Eurasian, South American, African, Hindustan, Australian, Antarctic and Pacific. The independence of "megaplates" as a whole is not in doubt, but their boundaries are not always unambiguous. The largest platforms basically have ancient cores - cratons that arose at the dawn of tectonic activity. Siberia, for example, is one of these "nuclears". For us, the division of the lithosphere into continents and oceans is of primary importance, but it does not always coincide with the division of the lithosphere into plates (illustrations from learner.org, wikipedia.org).

The answer came from the ocean. A detailed map of its relief revealed giant underwater ridges (with a total length of more than 60 thousand kilometers), on which, in turn, traces of a rock young by geological standards were found.

It turned out that the bowels of the Earth are penetrated by convective currents, along which the movement of mantle matter occurs. And the main source of energy for these flows is the temperature difference between the hot core (about 5000 °C) and the cold surface.

Further research allowed us to formulate in more detail the main causes of plate movement. There were two of them. Or rather, one, but about two persons.

When oceanic plates collide, either with each other or with continental ones, one of them "dives" under the other. In the latter case, the "winner", with very few exceptions, is the mainland. This process is called subduction. The plate going down gets into the hot region of the mantle and also heats up, softening at the same time. The molten rock breaks out, deforming upper part lithosphere (illustration from wikipedia.org).

Firstly, this is the rise of molten rock in the areas of the mid-ocean ridges, its solidification and subsequent sliding down, accompanied by the expansion of the bottom - "spreading".

Secondly, this is a compensatory subsidence of cold plates down at the border with other platforms - "subduction" or subduction of one section of the lithosphere under another.

Modernity is a grain in the geological history of the Earth. The oldest found mineral is dated to a period of about 4.4 billion years ago, that is, in fact, still a pre-geological (in the modern view) era - Katarchaeum (illustration from wikipedia.org/MEMBRANA).

In fact, this is a single mechanism, the result of which is a kind of circulation of the mantle in nature, carrying along the continents and oceans - due to viscosity, as well as the resulting lateral pressure of adjacent platforms.

The tectonic theory was quickly confirmed with the discovery of magnetic anomalies on the ocean floor. The fact is that when volcanic rocks solidify, they retain residual magnetization, that is, the orientation of metal particles along the magnetic field lines.

Having unpacked this "archive", geophysicists restored the position of the pole relative to each plate at different points in time. And, by combining the data obtained with information on the dating of rocks, they reconstructed the historical sequence of the movements of the continents.

A majestic picture of the geological past of our planet opened up to the eyes of scientists.

Continental drift from 600 million years ago to the present. The formation of the Earth in its present form began when the ancient supercontinent Pangea began to break apart about 200 million years ago (illustration by Ron Blakey/Northern Arizona University/MEMBRANA).

The formation of the continental lithosphere began about four billion years ago (or even earlier), that is, with a delay of approximately 500-600 million years in relation to the moment the Earth itself appeared.

Since then, there has been a consistent (but uneven) increase in the mass of the crust up to its present size. The most intensive formation of a solid surface occurred in the Late Archean, about 2.6 billion years ago, when the core finally emerged in the bowels of our planet.

Recovering past plate movements has become one of the most popular activities. The positions of the continents and the blocks from which they formed have been reconstructed with varying degrees of detail up to the Archean.

The tectonics known to us today arose, according to a number of scientists, in the Late Proterozoic. Prior to this, the mantle may have had a different structure, in which there were no stable convective currents (illustration by Ron Blakey/Northern Arizona University).

At the same time, the researchers revealed an interesting pattern: continental shields periodically huddled together - every 400-600 million years. This approximately coincides with the number of convective cycles, that is, periods during which the entire substance of the mantle at least once had time to completely "scroll" - through subduction and spreading.

The first of the "discovered" supercontinents was Pangea, which existed 250-200 million years ago. As a result of its collapse, modern continents were formed.

Note, however, that a more or less reliable paleomagnetic reconstruction can be carried out in a relatively short time by geological standards, just before the age of Pangea. With earlier periods, the situation is somewhat more vague.

Pangea split into Laurasia (to the north) and Gondwana (to the south), giving rise to the Atlantic Ocean. By the way, the name "Pangaea" (literally "all the lands") was invented by the founder of the tectonic theory, Alfred Wegener. Nobody believed him for the entire first half of the 20th century (illustration by Ron Blakey/Northern Arizona University).

There are about a dozen supercontinents in total (including incomplete ones, but still large ones), and sometimes some scientists operate with different names for the same “giant”. But even with the generally recognized continents, not everything is simple.

Take, for example, Rodinia, the existence of which about one billion years ago does not raise questions from most experts. There is a lot of speculation about what she looked like. Moreover, several main hypotheses are equally accepted for consideration by the scientific community.

However, despite all the numerous versions and theories, no one has yet been able to convincingly explain one of the main problems of geological evolution. This is the heat death of the Earth.

The supercontinent Rodinia supposedly began to form about 1.1 billion years ago and broke up about 750 million years ago. By the way, the name "Rodinia" comes from the Russian "Motherland" (Li et al.).

Most geophysicists adhere to the point of view according to which about 90% of the “convection” energy is generated due to the cooling of the core, 10% due to the decay of radioactive elements in it, and about 1% due to tidal disturbances.

An analysis of the geological history of the mantle has shown that the main heat losses have always occurred through the oceanic crust, through subduction and spreading. That is, de facto, the intensity of convective heat transfer can be equated to the level of tectonic activity.

So, according to all calculations, it turned out that the Earth should have cooled down a long time ago. But that did not happen. Why aren't we frozen like tsutsiki yet?

The supercontinent Pangea appeared as a result of the contraction of the inner ocean Iapetus, and Rodinia, on the contrary, the outer ancient ocean. The Pacific Ocean, which is now shrinking, is also external (illustration from wikipedia.org).

It is usually believed that the expansion of oceanic platforms and their absorption by continental ones has always existed and “acted” continuously.

At the same time, a global algorithm for plate drift was revealed: they either converge or diverge, forming a supercontinent at the end of each cycle.

Based on the cyclic version, American scientists disputed the continuity of tectonic movement, which, in their opinion, depends on the conditions of the "collapse" of the ocean (with the subsequent formation of a single "supercontinent").

The only significant subduction zone that has occurred in the last 80 million years is in the Pacific Ocean (illustration by Lawver, Dalziel, Gahagan, Martin, Campbell/University of Texas).

Geophysicists have suggested that there are two types of contraction - internal and external, and they lead to different consequences.

The fact is that in the inner ocean, subduction zones, according to scientists, do not form. And these zones, we recall, are considered an unshakable source of geological activity, generating convective currents.

We can observe something similar right now: the Pacific Ocean, where the vast majority of seismic focal areas are located, is slowly shrinking, giving way to the Atlantic Ocean. And in the latter, for 200 million years of its existence, the “creeping” of the plates did not happen (with minor exceptions). And for this, probably, there are no prerequisites in the future.

In 100 million years, Australia will sail to Japan and our Sakhalin. And then, after another 100-200 million, they will be “slammed” by North America (illustration from sites suntimes.com, utexas.edu/MEMBRANA).

Previously, it was believed that the closure of old subduction zones should be balanced by the emergence of new ones. Thus, there must be some law that would preserve the continuity of the force interaction of oceanic plates with each other, with continental shields, and also with the mantle - influencing convective flows and, ultimately, the tectonic activity of the Earth.

However, this does not appear to be the case. The most logical would be to assume that the collision of the continents as a result of the formation of the supercontinent would push the next region of the lithosphere - and so on, up to the oceanic platforms.

Nevertheless, the “collision” of Africa and Hindustan on Eurasia almost completely “left” into the Alpine-Himalayan mountain range, and new subduction regions (instead of those lost in the ocean that lay between them) did not appear. Although already 50 million years have passed.

As thermal energy is saved, the lithosphere begins to play the role of a quasi-solid lid (stagnant lid), and convection passes into a different, “standing” mode. If the heat cannot escape, moving the plates, it will find its way not on their outskirts, but right through the crust - which leads to much less cooling. But if the core temperature reserve is sufficient, sooner or later the supercontinent will “tear” apart – like Rodinia (illustration by Li et al.).

So, since we have observed that the inland ocean has not shown any signs of “underthrusting” for more than 200 million years, it is reasonable to assume that this situation can continue for quite a long time. Hundreds of millions of years, according to American estimates.

And with the formation of a supercontinent (and the “collapse” of the Pacific Ocean completely), subduction may stop altogether. That is, the plates will slow down for some time, and the heat transfer of the Earth will sharply decrease.

In support of their theory, Paul Silver and Mark Behn found traces of similar processes in older volcanic rocks, dating back, for example, to the time of the existence of Rodinia.

These rocks were found in the depths of the continents, far from the places of their "production", which indicates the accumulation of heat under the continental plates - during periods of their "stagnation".

Based on various coefficients of "tectonic efficiency" (heat loss due to the movement of oceanic plates), several scenarios were built by Paul Silver and Mark Ben. Even according to the most optimistic of them, the Earth should have cooled down about 1 billion years ago (illustration by Silver, Behn).

It turns out that in our geological past something like a mechanism of self-regulation of the thermal regime arose - on a global scale. And it has extended our lives by at least one billion years.

But what are the consequences of all this in the future?

And in the future, the factors of reducing tectonic activity will play an even more significant role. At the same time, the slowdown of convective processes in the mantle will increase the periods of tectonic megacycles.

This is due to the exponential dependence of the viscosity of the mantle substance on temperature: with a decrease in the supply of thermal energy from the core to it, the viscosity of the asthenosphere will increase many times, and, accordingly, the friction forces that prevent the movement of plates will increase.

The most expected assembly time for Pangea Ultima is 250 million years, but there are also estimates of 350 million. There is no consensus on what it will look like, and many geologists are putting forward alternative versions of the last supercontinent under various names (illustration from davidlyness.moved.in).

Moreover, since their inception, the lithospheric plates have consistently reduced the speed - from 50 centimeters per year (more in some places) to its current value of about 5 centimeters per year.

An even more radical question arises: is there enough strength to launch a new cycle? Some scientists are already calling the next supercontinent Pangea Ultima, meaning "the last Pangea."

Recall that now we are witnessing a contraction of the outer ocean, which means that we are waiting for a happy decrease in tectonic activity and “conservation” of heat in the mantle. Plus, fewer faults means fewer volcanoes and earthquakes.

True, living in "supercontinental" conditions will still not be very sweet, not to mention the fact that the concentration of all plates "on one side" of the Earth will have unpredictable consequences for the climate as a whole. Most likely sad.

Well, let's hope that the mechanism of tectonic self-regulation described by American scientists really exists, and that it will once again prolong the life of our beautiful planet.

SUBTITLE

Supercontinents past and future

STUDYING THE HISTORY OF MOVEMENTS OF CONTINENTS
SHOWED THAT WITH A PERIODICITY OF ABOUT 600 MY
ALL CONTINENTAL BLOCKS ARE ASSEMBLED INTO A SINGLE
A BLOCK WHICH THEN SHAKES
(SUPERCONTINENTAL CYCLE).

Supercontinent cycle

The supercontinent cycle is a theory in geology that
describes the periodic connection and separation of continents.
Scientists disagree on the change in volume
continental crust, but science is currently
believes that the earth's crust is constantly reconfigured. One
the supercontinental cycle takes from 300 to 500 million years.
The collision of the continents leads to the enlargement of the continents, while
while rifting creates new (and smaller) continents.
The last supercontinent, Pangea, formed 300 million years ago
ago. The previous supercontinent, Pannotia, formed
600 million years ago, its fragmentation gave rise to
fragments that rejoined to form Pangea. Before
This formation of supercontinents occurred through
irregular intervals. For example, the supercontinent
predecessor of Pannotia, Rodinia, existed from 1.1 billion
years ago to 750 million years ago, only 150
million years before Pannotia. Before this supercontinent
Columbia existed from 1.8 to 1.5 billion years ago. Before
This theory suggests the existence of three more
supercontinents: Kenorlanda from 2.7 to 2.1 billion years ago
ago, Ur 3 billion years ago and Vaalbara from 3.6 to 2.8
billion years ago

Ancient supercontinents

Gondwana (~600 - 30 million years ago)
Laurasia (~300 - 60 million years ago)
Pangea (~300 - 180 million years ago)
Lavrussia (~300 million years ago)
Pannotia (~600 - 540 million years ago)
Rodinia (~1.1 billion years ago - ~750 million years ago)
Columbia, also known as Nuna, (~1.8 - 1.5 billion years
back)
Kenorland (~2.7 billion years ago)
Ur (~3 billion years ago)
Vaalbara (~3.6 billion years ago)

ancient oceans

The ancient ocean is a hypothetical, largest in area and
in depth, a type of reservoir that arose on Earth before the Paleozoic era,
the largest negative element of the planet's megarelief,
a huge depression filled with ocean waters.
The origin and age of the ancient oceans, as well as the origin and
the age of modern ones is almost the same, but they differ, before
total, thickness, structure and composition of the earth's crust.

Ancient Precambrian Oceans

Panthalassa-0 - this super-ocean may have arisen around the crater at the site of the fall of a giant
meteorite. This super-ocean opposed the Pangea-0 supercontinent on the opposite side
planets. The age of the superocean is 2.5-2.2 billion years: Paleoproterozoic-Siderian period (inter), early
Proterozoic (Russian).
Panthalassa-1 (Mirovia) - this super-ocean may have opposed the Pangea-1 supercontinent for
opposite side of the planet. In modern geological literature, Panthalassa-1 is called
Mirovia, and Pangea-1 is called Rodinia. Age of the superocean - 1600-850 Ma: Mesoproterozoic
era or Neoproterozoic era according to the Tonian system or Early Riphean and Middle Riphean
periods inclusive (Russian).
Mozambique - this ocean separated Western and Eastern Gondwana. formed after the collapse
Mirovia and Rodinia. The age of the ocean is 850-600 million years. : Neoproterozoic (inter), late Riphean (ross).
Protopacific - this ocean is the prototype of the modern Pacific Ocean and the direct heir
superocean of Mirovia. It was formed as a result of the merger of Western and Eastern Gondwana into a single
continent. The age of the ocean is 600-570 million years. : Neoproterozoic, Vendian (Ross). Already in the Paleozoic era
became the Paleopacific Ocean.
Prototethys - this ocean is the prototype of Tethys in the Cenozoic era. formed after the collapse
Mirovia and Rodinia. The age of the ocean is 850-570 million years. : Neoproterozoic, Late Riphean and (Ross). Already in
In the Paleozoic era, it became the Paleotethys ocean.
Proto-Iapetus - this ocean is the prototype of Iapetus in the Paleozoic era. formed after the collapse
Mirovia and Rodinia. The age of the ocean is 850-570 million years. : Neoproterozoic (inter), Late Riphean and
Vendian period (Ross). Already in the Paleozoic era, it became the Iapetus ocean.
Paleoasian - this super-ocean separated the East European platform from the Siberian
platforms, and the last one from the Tarim and Sino-Korean platforms. formed after the collapse
Mirovia and Rodinia. The age of the ocean is 850-320 million years. : from the Neoproterozoic era to the Paleozoic era,
respectively from the Late Riphean to the Early Carboniferous. Already in the Late Carboniferous, it became Mongol-Okhotsk
ocean. In the Late Carboniferous, it broke up into the Turkestan, Novaya Zemlya, Mongol-Okhotsk and
Solonker-Girinsky.
Boreal - this ocean is a prototype of the modern Arctic or Arctic
ocean, sometimes this ocean is considered the northern part of the Paleopacific Ocean. Age of the ocean - 850-240
million years.

Vaalbara

Vaalbara - the first hypothetical supercontinent
on the ground. Its formation began 3600 million years ago, and
ended 3100 million years ago. Split around 2500
million years ago. The name Vaalbara comes from the craton
Kaapvaal in South Africa and the Pilbara craton in Western Australia.
According to radiometric dating of cratons, which
made up Vaalbara, it is believed that this supercontinent
existed more than 2.8 billion years ago. This is confirmed
geochronological and paleomagnetic studies between the two
Archean cratons (protocontinents): Kaapval craton
(Kaapwal Province, South Africa) and the Pilbara Craton (Pilbara Region,
Western Australia).
Additional evidence is the coincidence
stratigraphic sequences of greenstone belts and
gneiss belts of these two cratons. Today these Archean
greenstone belts are distributed along the borders of the Upper
craton in Canada, as well as on the cratons of ancient continents
Gondwana and Laurasia. Subsequent craton migration routes
Kaapvaal and Pilbara after 2.8 billion years ago again
indicate that at one time they were connected.
There is no consensus as to when Vaalbara began
diverge, but the geochronological and paleomagnetic
studies show that two cratons survived the circular
30° transverse separation approx. 2.78 - 2.77
billion years ago, which implies ~2.8 billion years
ago they no longer touched.

Ur

Ur is the hypothetical first supercontinent,
formed 3 billion years ago at the beginning
archean eon. Ur is the oldest continent on
Earth half a billion years older than the continent
Arctic. Ur united with the continents of Nena and
Atlantic about 1 billion years ago, having formed
supercontinent Rodinia. Ur remained united
whole, until it was divided into parts, when
the supercontinent Pangea broke up into Laurasia and
Gondwana.
The continent of Ur may have been preceded only by
one supercontinent, Vaalbara, which
presumably existed around 3.6-3.1
billion years ago.
The sections of the earth's crust that made up Ur,
now part of Africa, Australia and
India. In the early period of its existence
Ur was probably the only continent on
Earth, and is considered a supercontinent, although it,
probably smaller than modern Australia. AT
when he was the only one
continent on Earth, all other lands were
in the form of small granite islands and patches
sushi like Kenorland that weren't
big enough to be considered
continents.

Chronology

3 billion years ago, Ur formed as the only continent on
Earth.
~ 2.8 billion years ago Ur becomes part of a large supercontinent
Kenorland.
~ 2 billion years ago Ur becomes part of a large supercontinent
Colombia.
~ 1 billion years ago Ur becomes part of a large supercontinent
Rodinia.
~ 550 Ma Ur becomes part of a major supercontinent
Pannotia.
~ 300 million years ago Ur becomes part of a large supercontinent
Pangea.
~ 208 million years ago, Ur was torn apart by Laurasia and Gondwana.
~ 65 million years ago, the African part of Ur became part of India.
Ur is currently part of Australia and Madagascar

Kenorland

Kenorland - hypothetical
supercontinent that existed
in the Neoarchean. Name happens
from the Kenoran phase
folding.
Paleomagnetic research
indicate that Kenorland
was at low latitudes.
Rise of Kenorland
due to plumes
processes that led to
formation of a continental
crust in the form of cratons and their
subsequent accretion into
single supercontinent.
Kenorland was formed around 2.7
merger billion years ago
several cratons:
Karelian
Pilbara
Kaapvaal
Superior
Kenorland

cratons

Kraton (from other Greek κράτος - strength, fortress) - a stable area
continental crust, Archean age. These are the oldest blocks.
continental crust, they occupy most of the volume of all
continents.
Ancient platforms (cratons) are the core of the continents and
occupy vast parts of their area (millions of square kilometers).
They are composed of typical continental crust 35-45 km thick.
The lithosphere within them reaches a thickness of 150-200 km, and for some
data - up to 400 km. They have an isometric, polygonal shape.
Significant areas within the platforms are occupied
non-metamorphosed sedimentary cover 3-5 km thick, in the most
deep depressions reaching 10-12 km, and in exceptional cases
(Caspian lowland) up to 20-25 km. The composition of the cover, in addition to
sedimentary formations may include covers of traps. ancient platforms,
having an Early Precambrian metamorphic basement, make up
the most ancient and central parts of the continents and occupy about 40% of them
area; the term "craton" is applied only to them.

Supercraton Siberia

Nuna

Nuna (Columbia, Hudsonland) is a hypothetical supercontinent that existed in
period from 1.8 to 1.5 billion years ago. The assumption of its existence was
put forward by J. Rogers and M. Santos in 2002. Time of existence of Nuna
falls on the Paleoproterozoic era, which makes it presumably
the oldest supercontinent. It consisted of the plateau predecessors of the ancient
platforms that were part of the earlier continents of Laurentia, Fennosarmatia,
Ukrainian Shield, Amazonia, Australia and possibly Siberia, Sino-Korean
platform and the Kalahari platform. The existence of the continent Colombia
based on geological and paleomagnetic data.
The dimensions of Nuna are estimated at 12,900 kilometers from north to south, and about 4,800 kilometers to
widest part. The east coast of India was connected to the western part
North America, and southern Australia with Western Canada. The largest part of the South
America was deployed in such a way that the western edge of modern Brazil
was combined with the eastern part of North America, forming the continental margin,
stretching to the southern edge of Scandinavia

The final reunification of the mainland occurred 2.0-1.8 billion years ago.
Thus, the new continent consisted of almost all the lands of the continental
blocks. 2.1-2.0 Ga cratonic blocks in South America and
West Africa were connected with the Trans-Amazonian and Elephant orogens.
bones. Kaapvaal and Zimbabwe craters in southern Africa ~2.0 Ga
back connected with the Limpopo belt. Cratonic block Laurentius 1.9-1.8
billion years ago merged with the Trans-Hudson, Penokean, Taltson-Thelon,
Wopmay, Ungava, Torngat and Nagssugtoqidain orogens. Kola, Karelia, Volga-Ural and Sarmatian (Ukrainian) cratons were merged 1.9-1.8 Ga
back with the Kola-Karelian, Swedish-Finnish, Volyn Central Russian and Pachelma orogens. Anabar and Aldan cratons in Siberia
were connected 1.9-1.8 billion years ago with Akitkan and the Central Aldan
orogens. East Antarctica and the unknown continental block
were attached to the orogen of the Transantarctic Mountains. In the south and north
India was united in blocks along the central part of the Indian tectonic
zones. The eastern and western blocks of the North of the Chinese craton about 1.85 billion
years ago, they merged with the Trans-North China Orogen. After
the final connection of all the blocks, there was a lull, which
lasted quite a long time (1.8-1.3 billion years).
Columbia began to separate about 1.6 billion years ago, along the western
outskirts of Laurentia (Belt-Purcell Supergroup), East India (Mahanadi and
Godavari), southern outskirts of the Baltic (Telemark Supergroup), southeastern
margins of Siberia (Riphean aulacogens), northwestern margin of South Africa
(Kalahari Copper Belt) and the northern margin of the North China block (Zhaertai
Bayan-Obo belts). Fragmentation continued until the final collapse
supercontinent about 1.3-1.2 billion years ago

Atlantic

Atlantic (Greek Ατλαντικα) - hypothetical ancient
continent formed in the Proterozoic about 2 billion
years ago from various platforms located on
territory of modern West Africa and East
South America. The name was suggested by Rogers in
1996 and comes from the Atlantic Ocean, which
now passes through the old continent.
According to Rogers 1996, the continent formed
simultaneously with the Nena continent about 1.9 billion years
ago from the Archean cratons, including modern ones
Amazon in South America, Congo in West Africa
and North African cratons in Africa.
The Atlantic separated from the Nena continent between 1.6-1.4
billion years ago, when Nuna was a supercontinent
consisting of Ur, Arctic, Nena and Atlantic -
broke up.
Reconstruction of the Earth 550 million years ago shows
Atlantic cratons forming West Gondwana
About 1 billion years ago, together with the continents Nena and
Ur and small platforms, Atlantic
formed the supercontinent Rodinia. Rifting
Rodinia between 1.0-0.5 Ga led to
formation of three new continents: Laurasia and
Eastern and Western Gondwana, in which the Atlantic
became the nucleus of the latter. At this late stage, in
Neoproterozoic era, was formed
Brazilian-Pan-African orogenic system.
The central part of this system, the Arasua and Western Congo orogeny, has left a distinct character
deformities still present on both sides

Rodinia

Rodinia (from Russian Rodina or from Russian to give birth)
- hypothetical supercontinent,
presumably existing in
Proterozoic - Eon Precambrian.
Originated about 1.1 billion years ago
broke up about 750 million years ago. At that
time the earth consisted of one giant
pieces of land and one giant ocean,
called Mirovia, also taken
from Russian. Rodinia is often considered
oldest known supercontinent
however, its position and outlines are still
are the subject of controversy. geophysicists
suggest that before Rodinia there were
other supercontinents: Kenorland -
maximum assembly ~2.75 billion years ago,
Nuna (Colombia, Hudsonland) - maximum
assembly ~1.8 billion years ago. After Rodinia
the broken continents managed once again
unite into the supercontinent Pangea and again
fall apart.
It is assumed that in the future the continents will
once gathered in a supercontinent called
Pangea Ultima

Rodinia

Mirovia

Mirovia (from Russian world) - a hypothetical world ocean,
washing the supercontinent Rodinia from 1100 to 800 million years
back to the Neoproterozoic era. In cryogeny, about 750 million years
ago, most of Rodinia was located around the southern
poles, and the ocean surrounding it was covered with ice two
kilometers. Only part of Rodinia - the future Gondwana - was
near the equator. In the Ediacaran, 600 million years ago, when
fragments of Rodinia moved north, they began to develop
multicellular simple life, and Mirovia turned into oceans
Panthalassa and Pan African.

Pannotia

Pannotia is a hypothetical supercontinent that has existed since about 600
540 million years ago.
Pannotia began to form about 750 million years ago as a result of
division of the previous supercontinent Rodinia into Proto-Laurasia (subsequently
further divided and re-formed Laurasia), a protoplatform
Congo and Proto-Gondwana (Gondwana without the Atlantic and the Congo platform).
With the displacement of Proto-Laurasia to the South Pole, the partial rotation of Proto-Gondwana and the intrusion of the Congolese platform between them, approximately 600
Pannotia was formed millions of years ago. Since large continental
masses were around the poles, it is assumed that the scale of the mainland
glaciations in the era of Pannotia were the maximum in the entire geological history.
During the period of closest approach, Pannotia resembled the letter V in shape,
open to the northeast, surrounding the Panthalassa proto-ocean and surrounded by
Pan-African proto-ocean.
The supercontinent Pannotia was formed as a result of a tangential (tangential)
contact of its constituent parts, which at the same time offered their movement, and was
short-lived by geological standards. By the end of the Precambrian, only 60
million years after its formation, Pannotia broke up into the continent Gondwana,
and the mini-continents of Baltica, Siberia and Laurentia. Subsequently, these mainland
masses reunited to form the late supercontinent Pangea

Pannotia

Structure, existence and decay

Supercontinent Pannotia
formed as a result
tangent (tangential)
contact
parts, offering at the same time
his movement, and was
short-lived
geological standards. By the end
Precambrian, only 60
million years after
education, Pannotia
broke up into a continent
Gondwana, and mini-continents
Baltic, Siberia and Laurentia.
Subsequently, these mainland
the masses reunited with
late
supercontinent Pangea
Pannotia split, dark pink
marked Lawrence, light green
Baltic (North-Eastern Europe), light pink Siberia, and yellow and light blue
proto-Gondwana. 550 million ago.

Ancient Paleoasian oceans

Paleopacific - this ocean is a prototype of the modern Pacific Ocean and is a direct
heir to the superocean Protopasifika. The age of the ocean is 570-240 million years. According to the international

corresponds to the Paleozoic era. Already in the Mesozoic era, it became the oceans of Panthalassa-2.
Iapetus - this ocean is a prototype of the modern Atlantic Ocean and direct
heir to the superocean Protoyapetus. The age of the ocean is 570-420 million years. According to the international
stratigraphic scale, as well as on the scale of Northern Eurasia (Russia, Kazakhstan), this interval
corresponds to the interval from the Cambrian to the Silurian period of the Paleozoic era.
Paleothethys - this ocean is the prototype of Tethys in the Cenozoic era and the direct heir
ocean of Prototethys. The age of the ocean is 570-205 million years. According to the international stratigraphic
scale, as well as on the scale of Northern Eurasia (Russia, Kazakhstan), this interval corresponds to
the Paleozoic era and the Mesozoic era - from the Cambrian to the late Triassic.
Reikum - this ocean is the western part of Paleo-Tethys, but sometimes it is distinguished as
independent ocean. The age of the ocean is 480-425 million years. According to the international stratigraphic
scale and scale of Northern Eurasia, this interval corresponds to the period from the early Ordovician to
early Silurian.
Ural - this ocean is the southern part of the Paleo-Asian Ocean, but sometimes it is isolated
like an independent ocean. The age of the ocean is 540-320 million years. According to the international

Middle Cambrian to Middle Carboniferous.
Mongolian-Okhotsk - this ocean is part of the Paleo-Asian Ocean, but stood out in
independent ocean in the Middle Carboniferous. The age of the ocean is 325-155 million years. According to the international
stratigraphic scale and the scale of Northern Eurasia, this interval corresponds to the period from
Middle Carboniferous to Middle Triassic.
Turkestan - this ocean is part of the Paleo-Asian Ocean, but sometimes it is distinguished as
an independent ocean or combined with the Ural Ocean. The age of the ocean is 540-320 million years.
According to the international stratigraphic scale and the scale of Northern Eurasia, this interval
corresponds to the period from the Middle Cambrian to the Middle Carboniferous

Lawrence (ancient mainland)

Lawrence -
continent,
existing in
the Paleozoic era in
Eastern and
central Canada,
the name given
North American
continental
shield

Lavrussia

Laurussia (Euramerica) is a Paleozoic supercontinent that formed in
as a result of the collision of North American (the ancient continent of Laurentia) and
East European (ancient Baltic continent) platforms during
Caledonian orogeny. Also known are the names Caledonia and "Ancient Red
mainland "(Eng. Old Red Continent).
In the era that coincided with the formation of Lavrussia, vegetation first emerged from
ocean and began to cover the hitherto bare land. It is in the north of Lavrussia
(which was then located on the equator), the first forests appeared in the Devonian (actually
first huge tropical swamps), later turned into
the oldest deposits of coal in northern Canada, in Greenland and in
Scandinavia.
In Perm, it merged with Pangea-2 and became its integral part. After the collapse
Pangea-2 became part of Laurasia. Broken up in the Paleogene

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstania - the Middle Paleozoic continent, which was located between Laurussia
and the Siberian platform. It stretches from the Turgai trough and the Turan
lowlands to the Gobi and Takla Makan deserts.
Kokshetau-North Tien Shan Caledonian folded area became the main
part of the Kazakhstan continent, then Chingiz-Tarbagatai Caledonian folded region joined them, in the late Paleozoic
Dzungar-Balkhash Hercynian fold system.
The appearance of the Kazakhstan continent determined the granite-metamorphic layer
the earth's crust, which was formed within it by the end of the Ordovician as a result
Taconian folding. Up to this point, during the Neoproterozoic-Cambrian, this
the area consisted of heterogeneous blocks and microcontinents separated by
depressions with crust of oceanic and transitional types.
At present, the complexes that belonged to these microcontinents are emerging
surface in the mountain ranges of the Middle, Northern Tien Shan, Dzungaria and in
low hills of the western part of the Kazakh uplands. It is possible that for them
this number also includes part of the foundation of the bordering plates - Turan and
West Siberian. Between these arrays are younger
folded zones.

Pangea

Pangea (other Greek Πανγαῖα - "all-earth")
- name given by Alfred
Wegener to the protocontinent that emerged
during the Paleozoic era.
During the formation of Pangea from
more ancient continents in their places
collisions arose mountain systems,
some of them lasted until
of our time, for example, the Urals or
Appalachians.
Pangea formed in the Permian
period, and split at the end of the Triassic,
approximately 200 - 210 million years ago,
to two continents. northern continent
Laurasia later split into Eurasia and
North America, while
southern continent Gondwana later
formed Africa, South America,
India, Australia and Antarctica.
According to some forecasts, in the future
the continents will once again gather in
supercontinent called Pangea
Ultima.

Panthalassa

The giant ocean that washed
Pangea, is called Panthalassa.
Panthalassa (from other Greek παν- "all-"
and θάλασσα "sea") -
hypothetical ocean surrounding,
since the Silurian period
Paleozoic to Early Mesozoic
inclusive, supercontinent
Pangea and covering about
half of the globe.
The great bay called
by the Tethys Sea, went into
supercontinent between futures
Eurasia and Australia. Ocean
panthalassa continuously
expanded, lithospheric plates,
those around him moved apart
sides; cause of this movement
was spreading (spreading)
oceanic crust, continuously
formed in the mid-ocean ridge

Laurasia

Laurasia - northern of the two
continents (southern - Gondwana), on
which broke up the protocontinent Pangea
during the Mesozoic era. Components
Laurasia were modern Eurasia and
North America, which in their
turn split apart from 135
up to 200 million years ago.
Laurasia is a supercontinent
existing as part of a fault
the protocontinent of Pangea in the late
mesozoic. It included a large
part of the territories that make up
existing continents today
Northern Hemisphere, mostly
Lawrence (the continent that existed in
Paleozoic era in the eastern and
central Canada, name given
North American continental
shield), Baltic, Siberia, Kazakhstan and
north and east chinese
continental shields. Name
combines Laurentia and Eurasia

Origin, fault and formation

Laurasia is known as a Mesozoic phenomenon. Today
it is believed that those continents that
formed late Laurasia,
existed as a single supercontinent after
the collapse of Rodinia about 1 billion years ago.
To avoid confusion with the title
Mesozoic continent, it was attributed to proto-Laurasia. According to modern
ideas, Laurasia was not separated
more before being reunited with the southern
continents for the formation of late
Precambrian supercontinent Pannotia,
existed until the early Cambrian.

In the Cambrian period, Laurasia for the first half a million years
located in equatorial latitudes and began to break up into
Northern China and Siberia, drifting further to northern latitudes,
than those that were located there 500 million years ago. To Devon
Northern China was already located near the Arctic Circle and
remained the northernmost land during the entire era of the Carboniferous
Ice Age, 300-280 million years ago. Not
evidence proving a large icing of the northern
continents. That cold period saw the reunification of Laurentia and
The Baltics with the Appalachian Mountains platform and the formation of reserves
coal, which now serve as the basis of the economy of such
regions like West Virginia, parts of the British Isles and
Germany.

Siberia shifted to the south, and connected with Kazakhstan, a small continental
a region believed today to have been volcanically formed during the Silurian period.
After these 2 continents joined, Laurasia almost changed shape and at the beginning
Triassic period, the shield of East China rejoined the changing
Laurasia and merged with Gondwana to form Pangea. And North China, drifting out
subarctic latitudes, turned out to be the last continent that did not join
Pangea.
Around 200 million years ago, Pangea began to break up. Between East North
America and northwestern Africa form the new Atlantic Ocean,
despite the fact that Greenland (which was one with North America) and Europe
still stuck together. The division of Europe and Greenland happened in the Paleocene,
about 60 million years ago. Laurasia was divided into continents, after which it received the name
Lawrence (now North America) and Eurasia. Later, Eurasia was joined
Arabian Peninsula and India.

Gondwana

Gondwana in paleogeography is an ancient supercontinent.
Gondwana included almost all the land, in our time
located in the southern hemisphere (Africa, South America,
Antarctica, Australia), as well as the tectonic blocks of Hindustan and
Arabia, now wholly moved to the northern hemisphere and
became part of the Eurasian continent.

Gondwana arose approximately 750-530 million years ago. and for a long time
located around the South Pole. In the early Paleozoic, it
gradually shifted to the north and merged in the era
Carboniferous (360 million years ago)
the North American-Scandinavian continent into a giant
protocontinent of Pangea.
However, during the Jurassic period about 180 million years ago
Pangea split again into Gondwana and the northern continent
Laurasia, which was divided by the Tethys Ocean. 30 million years later, in
In the same Jurassic period, Gondwana itself began to break up into
the above (current) continents. First, 150 million
years ago, Gondwana split into two parts, one of which
included Africa and South America, the other - Australia,
Antarctica and the Hindustan Peninsula. Ultimately, all modern
the continents separated from Gondwana only at the end of the Cretaceous period,
70-80 million years ago.
The movement of the continents that broke away from Gondwana and their collision with
parts of Laurasia led to active mountain building.
The result of African pressure on Europe was the Alps, and the collision
India and Asia created the Himalayas.

Tethys

Tetis (on behalf of the Greek goddess of the sea Tethys - Greek Τηθύς, Tethys) -
an ancient ocean that existed during the Mesozoic era between ancient continents
Gondwana and Laurasia.
Tethys existed in times from the late Paleozoic to the Mesozoic, that is, in the period
from 320 to 66.5 million years ago, separating the ancient continents of Gondwana and
Laurasia. About 280 million years ago, the so-called
Cimmerian continent, which, slowly crossing the Tethys, eventually
collided with Laurasia about 200 million years ago. In this regard, it is appropriate
talk about two Tethys oceans: Paleotethys 320-260 million years ago and Neotethys
(or simply Tethys) 200-66.5 million years ago.
Enlargement of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and further displacement
plates led to a gradual reduction in the size of Neotethys. Finally,
about 66.5 million years ago, the remnants of Gondwana collided with Laurasia, forming
Alpine-Himalayan mountain belt, which includes the Pyrenees,
Alps, Carpathians and Himalayas. After the collision of the continents, Tethys still
for some time it was a reservoir of shallow depth, covering
most of southern Eurasia. Eastern Mediterranean Sea, Black and
Caspian Sea, Persian Gulf, as well as the seas of the Malay Archipelago
are the remnants of Tethys.
Tethys

Sahul

Sahul is a prehistoric supercontinent.
It is presumed to have existed before
the end of the last glaciation and united
Australia and Papua New Guinea, and
included a land bridge in place
Torres Strait and parts of Arafura
seas
Sundaland is a biogeographic region in
Southeast Asia, including
Asian continental shelf. Region
consists of the Malay Peninsula and large
the islands of Kalimantan, Java and Sumatra with
adjacent islands. Eastern
the border of Sundaland is the line
Wallace, she also serves the eastern
the boundary of the Asian fauna and the boundary
between Indomalayan and Australasian
zones. During the Ice Age
ocean level was lower and all
Sundaland was a continuation of the Asian
continent. As a result of this island
Sundaland is home to many
asian animals

Relationship with the Wilson cycle
The hypothetical supercontinent cycle is the complement of the Wilson cycle, which describes a periodic
formation and collapse of the oceans. The oldest known ocean floor is only 170 million years old, while
time as the oldest section of the continental crust is more than 4 billion years old, so evidence
continental cycles have a much longer history.
Relationship with sea level
It is known that sea levels are low when the continents come together and rise as they
extensions. For example, sea levels were low during the formation of Pangea (Permian) and Pannotia
Neoproterozoic, and peaked during the Ordovician and Cretaceous periods when the continents were moving apart. This is
due to the fact that the age of the lithosphere under the oceans plays an important role in determining the depth of the oceans:
The ocean floor is formed at mid-ocean ridges. During the movement of the crust from the ridges
its cooling and shrinkage occur, which lead to a thinning of the crust and an increase in its density, which in turn
turn leads to a lowering of the ocean floor away from the mid-ocean ridges. With lowering of the bottom
the volume of ocean basins increases and the level of the oceans decreases. On the contrary, the young earth's crust under
oceans leads to shallower oceans and higher sea levels, which in turn leads to
flooding most of the continents.
These relationships are "supercontinent > old ocean floor > low sea level" and "multiple continents > young
ocean floor > high sea level" are exacerbated by climatic factors:
The supercontinent has a continental climate, which increases the likelihood of glaciation, which additionally
lowers the sea level.
Numerous continents have more maritime climate and the sea level does not drop further.
Connection with global tectonics
The supercontinental cycle is accompanied by changes in tectonics. During the fragmentation of the supercontinent
rifting predominates; this phase is replaced by a phase of calm growth of the oceans; changing in turn to a phase
collision of continents, which begins with the collision of continents and chains of islands and ends
collisions of the continents themselves. According to this scenario, events took place in the Paleozoic supercontinental cycle
and are happening now, in the Mesozoic-Cenozoic cycle.

Modern supercontinents

Afro-Eurasia (less often Afrasia or Eurafrasia) is a supercontinent and the largest
land mass on Earth, including the continents of Africa and Eurasia (Eurasia in
in turn divided into Asia and Europe). The surface area reaches 84
980,532 square kilometers, home to about 5.7 billion
people, or approximately 85% of the world's population. He is also known as
Old World, as opposed to America, called the New World. AT
geology, it is believed that Afro-Eurasia will become a supercontinent when Africa
will collide with Europe. This is supposed to happen in 600,000 years,
when the southern tip of Spain reaches Africa. When it happens
The Mediterranean Sea will be isolated from the Atlantic Ocean.
The final merger of Africa and Europe is believed to occur in 70
million years, closing the Mediterranean region and forming new
mountain ranges in addition to the Alps.
The continent Afro-Eurasia was mentioned
like World Island: title,
proposed by Sir Halford
John Mackinder in an article
"Geographical axis of history"

America

America - modern
supercontinent that unites
two continents, northern
America and South America, and
also nearby islands
(including Greenland)

Ancient Platform Division

Ancient platforms are divided into 3 types:
Laurasian - North American (Lawrence), East European, Siberian (Angarid)
Gondwanese - South American, African-Arabian, Hindustanian, Australian,
Antarctic
Transitional - Sino-Korean (Huang He), South Chinese (Yangtze)
There is a hypothesis that the ancient platform of Hyperborea was located in the region of the North Pole.
There are small ancient platforms - Tibet, Tarim (Dayan), Indochina (Mekong).
In the Paleozoic era, the supercontinents Laurasia existed in the Northern Hemisphere, in the Southern -
Gondwana; between them, the transitional platforms belonged to both Gondwana and Laurasia. Respectively
Therefore, the types are divided into Laurasian, Gondwanan and transitional.
The African platform in the Archaean was divided into parts - the protoplatforms of the Congo (Zaire), Kalahari
(South African), Somalia (East African), Madagascar, Arabia, Sudan, Sahara. After
Pangea-0, they are completely united, except for the Arabian and Madagascar platforms. Already in
the Paleozoic era, the African platform turned into the African-Arabian platform as part of
Gondwana. This platform has numerous exits to the surface of the crystalline
foundation (shields and arrays): in the west - Regibat, Ahaggar and Eburney; around Red
seas - Arabian, Nubian and Ethiopian; at the equator - Central African, Kasai and
Tanganyika; in the south - Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Transvaal, Bangwelulu and Toggar; on the
island Madagascar - Madagascar.
The South China and Sino-Korean platforms are separated by the Hercynian Qinlin belt. Chinese geologists call the South China Platform the Yangtze after the name of the river that flows throughout
platform area.

The internal structure of the foundation of ancient platforms

The most important role in the structure of the foundation of ancient platforms belongs to
Archean and Lower Proterozoic formations with large blocks
structure. So, in the structure of the Baltic Shield, five main blocks are distinguished, in
within the Ukrainian shield - also five, the Canadian shield - six, etc.
Archean complexes contain special structural elements,
characteristic of the early stages of the history of the Earth.
On all shields of ancient platforms, three rock complexes of this
age:
Greenstone belts are thick strata naturally
intermittent rocks from ultrabasic and basic volcanics (from
basalts and andesites to dacites and rhyolites) to granites. These belts have
length up to 1000 km with a width up to 200 km.
Ortho- and paragneiss complexes form in combination with granite massifs
granite gneiss fields. Gneisses correspond in composition to granites and have
gneissic texture.
Granulite (granulite-gneiss) belts, which are understood as
metamorphic rocks formed under conditions of medium pressures and
high temperatures (750-1000 °C) and containing quartz, feldspar and garnet.
Along with the areas of "gray gneisses" of the early Archean, the three listed above
type of Archean formations make up the predominant part of the shields of the ancient
platforms.

Structural elements of the foundation surface and sedimentary cover of platforms

Platforms are subdivided into sections of exits to the surface
foundation rocks - shields and at least large areas covered with
cover - plates.
Shields are easily distinguished in the platforms of the northern row, where they are from all
sides are surrounded by a cover, but much more difficult in platforms
southern row, especially African and Hindustan, on a larger
parts of which the foundation is exposed on the surface, and the cover
more limited distribution, within closed depressions.
Young platforms are almost entirely slabs, and
shields and arrays are encountered here as an exception. So
Thus, plates are the predominant element of the ancient and proper
young platforms. Within the plates, structural
elements of a subordinate (second) order: anteclises, syneclises,
aulacogenes, domes, depressions, ridges and depressions

Fennosarmatia

Fennosarmatia (Fennosarmatia) is the paleogeographical name of the continental region,
formed in the Precambrian era as a result of numerous mountain building
(orogenesis).
The name comes from the words "Finland" and the Latin name of the Polish-Russian lowland
Sarmatia. This also indicates the geographical location of this geological plate: on
in the north, it covers the Baltic Shield and the Old Paleozoic orogen of the Caledonides, which in
currently forms the Norwegian mountain ranges. Both these areas are united under the name
Fennoscandia.
In the south, the border of Fennosarmatia lies in the east of Central Europe and is hidden by younger
sedimentary deposits. In the east and southeast, the continuation of Fennosarmatia is
The Russian Plain and the Ukrainian Shield, its eastern border are formed in the younger
Paleozoic Ural Mountains.
Fennosarmatia is the most ancient predecessor of the continent (urkraton, shield).
To determine the geological age, a radiometric method of analysis was used.
crystallin, which on the Fennoscandinavian shield protrudes to the earth's surface and therefore
studied most extensively. Crystalline was analyzed by petrographic
methods and attempts were made to classify by the age of formation of rocks. So,
the study of decay chains of substances (uranium-lead-potassium-argon and rubidium-strontium-method) gave
the following picture: 3 periods of mountain building have been identified, starting from the Gotlandic
time, age 2.5 billion years and continuing Svecofennian, age 1.75 billion years. On this
Precambrian orogeny as a whole was completed. On the mainland plains are formed
sandstone deposits (Jotnischer Sandstein). The third period of tectonic unrest - about 1
billion years ago did not make significant changes to the already established landscape.
The advance of the sea of ​​the Caledonian geosyncline, which flooded this area during the Late Paleozoic,
left behind the flat-lying stone layers-deposits that have survived to this day

hyperborea

Hyperborean platform (from
Greek hyperboreios-
located in the far north)
hypothetical Precambrian
continental platform,
located in the area
modern northern
Arctic Ocean to the north from
Novosibirsk Islands, about.
Wrangel, Alaska, Canadian
Arctic. archipelago and east of
underwater Lomonosov Ridge. With
late Mesozoic significant
part of the Hyperborean platform
has been deeply immersed
and oceanization and lost its
continental character
(Beaufort and Makarov basins).
Relics of Hyperborean
platform, geophysical
(aeromagnetic) data can
be the Mendeleev Ridge,
adjacent areas
Arctic shelf.

Possible future supercontinents

Formation of the next supercontinent after 50 million years
American scientists predict based on satellite
observations of the movement of the continents. Africa merges with Europe
Australia will continue to move north and unite with Asia, and
The Atlantic Ocean, after some expansion, will disappear altogether. “Due to the approach of Africa, the mountain systems of the Alps and the Pyrenees grew, and
Greece and Turkey are being shaken by earthquakes, they say. - So
the same as cold air creeps in the lower layers, the dense seabed
sometimes settles below the earth's crust and pulls the edge of the platform along with it.
Australia-Afro-Eurasia (after ~60 million years) - Australia
will collide with eastern Asia to form a mountain range comparable to
existing in the Himalayas.
Australia-Antarctica-Afro-Eurasia (after ~130 million years).
Antarctica will unite with southern Australia or Asia, which in addition
moment will be one supercontinent.
Pangea Ultima, Amasia or Novopangea (after ~250 - ~400
million years).

Amazia

Amazia
Amasia is a hypothetical supercontinent that, according to some hypotheses, should appear on Earth in 50-
200 Ma, centered on the North Pole.
According to the hypothesis put forward by Ross Mitchell and his colleagues at Yale University based on the analysis
magnetic properties of ancient rocks, North and South America will merge together and then together they will migrate to
north towards Eurasia. They form a single supercontinent, called Amasia by scientists. Australia
will also move to the north and will be near India.
The Amasia hypothesis is contrasted with two other hypotheses that a supercontinent will form
either on the site of ancient Pangea (modern Atlantic Ocean) or on the reverse side globe- on the
place in the Pacific Ocean. Since these hypotheses are called introversion and extroversion, respectively, their
scientists call the hypothesis orthoversion.
It is also noted that the hypothesis of Amasia is in accordance with the known patterns in the formation
supercontinents in the past. So, Pangea was placed at an angle of 90 ° with respect to the previous
supercontinent of Rodinia. And Rodinia, in turn, is at an angle of 90 ° to Nuna, which existed 3 billion years ago.
Amasia is also expected to be at a 90° angle to Pangea.

Pangea Ultima

Pangea Ultima (lat. Pangea Ultima - "Last Pangea") -
hypothetical supercontinent into which, according to some forecasts,
merge all the current continents in 200-300 million years.
Authorship of the term "Pangaea Ultima" and the theory of its appearance
belong to the American geologist Christopher Scotese,
engaged in the study of the history of lithospheric plates.
This theory intersects with the theory of Amasia, the future continent from
Eurasia and North America, which will be the core of the future
supercontinent.
In 250 million years, the North American continent will turn
counterclockwise and Alaska will be in the subtropical zone.
Eurasia will continue to rotate clockwise, and the British
the islands will be in the region of the North Pole, while Siberia
will be in the subtropics. The Mediterranean Sea will close, and in its place
mountains are formed, comparable in height to the Himalayas.
Pangea Ultima will be 90 percent desert. In the northwest and southeast of the continent there will be giant mountain
chains.

Pangea Ultima

Wild world of the future

The Wild World of the Future, or Wild Future (eng. The Future is Wild) is a popular science film in the genre of reconstruction, filmed in 2003. demonstrates
to the viewer the appearance and habits of animals and plants that do not exist now, but at the same time
does not recreate animals that existed before and have come down to us in the form of remains, but
takes the action to the distant future (5, 100 and 200 million years later), simulating
supposed forms that can come from modern ones under conditions quite
predictable changes in the Earth's landscape and climate.

Wild world of the future

The film is divided into 3 series, each of which is divided into 4 episodes. Each episode is dedicated
a certain period of time, each episode - one of the ecosystems that could
exist at that time. The episodes of the film are listed below (the place is indicated in brackets
actions).
Welcome to the Future (introductory part).
5 million years later:
Return of the Ice (icy deserts in place of Paris);
The Vanished Sea (salt-covered desert that arose on the site of the Mediterranean Sea);
Prairies of Amazonia (the steppe located in the places where the Amazon flows today);
Cold Kansas Desert (semi-desert of Kansas).
100 million years later:
Waterland (bogs of Bengal);
Flooded World (sea);
Tropical Antarctica (tropical forests of Antarctica, which at that time is located on the equator);
The Great Plateau (the territory of present-day Alaska).
200 million years later (by this time a single continent had formed, so spend
parallels with modern continents are very difficult):
The Endless Desert (desert) - its center, according to some sources - Rome;
The Global Ocean (ocean);
Graveyard Desert (a desert located near the ocean) - one of the outskirts - the current
Los Angeles;
The Tentacled Forest (moist rainforests) - approximately on the site of London.

Animals

In each of the episodes of the film, several animals living there are described. Below are the lists
animals divided into series and episodes.
Return of the Ice
Shagrats are the descendants of marmots. They feed on all the plants they can find. Food is dug up
out of the snow with strong front paws. Thick wool protects animals from frost. Growth in
withers is 91 cm.
Snowbeasts are descendants of wolverines. In the mouth there are long fangs, like those of extinct saber-toothed
feline. Covered with thick white fur. Strongly developed parental instinct. sensitive
smell. Height at the withers - 60 cm.
Gannetwhales are giant gannets that are fully adapted to life in the ocean and occupy
cetacean niche. They come out on land only to lay eggs. Protected from predators
with a long strong beak, or spitting out a disgustingly smelling half-digested
food. Body length - 4.3 m.
The Vanished Sea
Cryptilia are lizards that run on their hind legs, hunting for insects. Long tongue,
like a chameleon. Body length (with tail) - 50 cm.
Carrons are ground martens that live in gorges. Very smart and agile. Growth at the withers -
about 42 cm.
Scrophs are long-snouted and long-legged omnivorous pigs. Height at the withers - 50 cm.
Modern coastal flies.
Prairies of Amazonia
Baboukari are gregarious plant-eating monkeys. Height at the shoulders - 90 cm.
Carakillers are giant flightless birds with claws on their front wings. They hunt in packs.
Height - 2-3 m.
Steppe spinogroms are a descendant of paki, similar to an armadillo. Omnivorous slow
animal. Approximate length - 1.3 m.