Supercontinent Amasia To Join America & Eurasia In 50 To 200 Million Years

A Yale study has predicted the formation of a new supercontinent called Amasia in 50 to 200 million years, through the collision of the Americas and Eurasia.

AsianScientist (Feb. 9, 2012) – A Yale study has predicted the formation of a new supercontinent called Amasia in 50 to 200 million years, through the collision of the Americas and Eurasia.
 

Yale scientists theorize that the present-day Arctic Ocean and Caribbean Sea will vanish as North and South America fuse during a mutual northward migration that leads to a collision with Europe and Asia.

Called orthoversion, the theory was proposed in a paper published today in the journal Nature. Orthoversion describes a phenomenon whereby each new supercontinent takes shape 90 degrees from the geographic center of its predecessor, eventually replacing it.

Previous theories on supercontinent formation – extroversion and introversion – predict that supercontinents assemble either 0 or 180 degrees from the geographic center.

For example, these existing theories predict that the Atlantic Ocean will disappear and the next supercontinent will form at the same center (present-day Africa), or, alternately, on the opposite side of the globe.

By studying the magnetism of ancient rocks, the team observed that the axes of supercontinents to date were located 90 degrees away from their immediate predecessors, making orthoversion a better predictor of the next supercontinent’s center.

“This kind of analysis gives us a way to arrange continents in both latitude and longitude, providing a better understanding in patterns of biological dispersal and the dynamics of Earth’s deep interior,” said Taylor Kilian, a co-author of the paper.

Pangea, the most recent supercontinent to form, is believed to have occurred 300 million years ago, with Africa located at its center. Its fragmentation also gave rise to the seven continents the world’s population lives in today.

The researchers speculate that the center of Amasia could be occupied by Asia or North America, with a mountain range that bridges the two.

“We can use the patterns gleaned from ancient supercontinents to think deeply about humanity’s current existence in time and space within the grand tectonic dance of the Earth,” Evans said.

The article can be found at: Mitchell RN et al. (2012) Supercontinent cycles and the calculation of absolute palaeolongitude in deep time.

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Source: Yale University.
Disclaimer: This article does not necessarily reflect the views of AsianScientist or its staff.

Yuka graduated with a BSc (Hons) in life sciences from the National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore, and received her MSc in cancer biology at University College London, UK.

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