In the future, will the continents ever cease to exist?

Question

Because water and wind always erode away land. In a very long time, will every single piece of land get eroded?

Answer 1

You are correct that erosion is always taking place, but you need two more pieces of the puzzle. Land is also being formed in volcanic areas where ocean crust meets land plates, rising where two land plates collide. Many areas land is rising because of isostatic lifting. Hopefully new land is forming about as fast as erosion takes place.

If you're thinking about soil fertility..hopefully we see the importance of soil conservation before we lose too much. Fortunately volcanic soils are very rich, and the alluvial soils where much of the eroded land ends up..in river valleys ..this is a very fertile area also. Deposition can be stopped by channelization..then the deposits are just washed out to sea..and this is tragic. I think this is the bigger more immediate danger..continents that can not provide the food we need due to erosion.

Answer 2

Mt. Everest is 30,000 feet up in the air. It's not going to tumble down any time soon. Or ever. And yes, there are things in the ocean called underwater / deep sea vents that are volcanic in nature that are integral in the creation of new land. In addition, some land is getting higher each day while other land is sinking, by very very tiny amounts. That's because of plate tectonics, which means that two plates of the earth's land (puzzle pieces, if you will) are interacting—one's going under the other, and as this happens, the other's elevation is raised.

Answer 3

If you look at maps drawn up by geographers who have studied how land moves, you will see that all continents were in a different formation hundreds and hundreds of years ago. It is believed that Antartica and Australia belonged to the Asian continent before they floated away (gradually). North and South America looked different too.
The continents will therefore not cease to exist but how you see them today will not be the same as in one thousand years from now.

Answer 4

Eventually enough radioactive elements (uranium, thorium and potassium) will convert to their daughter isotopes and the mantle will stop circulating, causing plate tectonics to stop. Some time after that erosion will reduce the surface of the continents to a peneplain. The continents will still be there, and probably will be above water as well.