How likely is it to happen??

Question

Since Europe and North America, and Africa and S. America are driftin apart from each other, would they collide in let's say couple of hundred million years?? The earth is circular, so if Europe and Africa are driftin to the right and South and North America are driftin to the left then wouldn't they meet up after a long long time??

thanks

Answer 1

Continental drift isn't an exact science. If you want to see how odd the path of travel is believed to have been for the continents go here...
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/geology/anim1.html

There is a belief as you stated that in about 200 million years that the US will butt up against Asia. There is also a belief that Los Angeles will head north and end up next to San Francisco.

Answer 2

Not likely. The Wilson Cycle has the Atlantic Ocean opening and closing at regular intervals. The last time it was closed was about 300 million years ago and before that it was 1400 million years ago. Given that data a rough estimate would predict the supercontinent to reform in 800 million years, give or take 50 million years. Of course, the Wilson Cycle is a theory, so we'll have to wait and see what the planet looks 500 million years from now. At that time it should be clear what will happen.

Answer 3

Yes but the collision may not be as severe or violent as you think. To actually view where the plates begin and end you should go to www.usgs.gov. Continents are sometimes just a part of a bigger plate - the part of it that actually comes up out of the ocean. The earth is made up of several of these plates and it would be best for you to view a map to have a better idea of plate tectonics.
Also, the event you are referring to would take millions of years to occur. The plates on the earth only move in terms of centimeters per year. Imagine how many centimeters it takes to make a mile and how many miles each plate would have to travel to move hundreds of miles!

Answer 4

Yes, the Pacific is closing and eventually N America will crash into Asia.

Pangea, the last supercontinent, was just one of many that we have had in the past. Before that, we had Rhodinia. In Rhodinia, N America was in the middle, surrounded by Europe on the east, Sibera/Austrailia/Antartica on the West.