Will the earth continents merge again and become a single block as its postulated to have been?

Question

scienstists claim that the present continents were once a single land mass and that there are signs of reunion of these continents though not shortly

Answer 1

Good question.
I think the movements of the continents is pretty unpredictable, but we can postulate by extrapolating what movement may have happened before.

The most recent continental collision was India with Asia, and in fact India is still pushing northwards into Asia, causing the land to crumple up into the Himalayas. Africa is also heading towards Asia and Europe, so in the next few million years we can probably expect The Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean to disappear and mountains to form in what is now Arabia, as Africa and Asia unite to form a super-continent.

Also, Australasia is moving North towards China/Japan. It's uncertain whether is will hit eastern Asia or just sail up the Pacific. If it hits, expect more mountain ranges in the vicinity. This will add to a Afro-Asian-Australian super continent.

Later still, Antarctica could joint in the party - it is postulated that it will move towards the Indian Ocean and merge with the Afro-Asian-Australian super-continent between India and Australia, leaving a huge lake to the west of India, the remains of the Indian Ocean.

Much later, perhaps the Americas will join in the party, but that's not for about 250 millions years. There's your single super-continent.

Of course, with all the land gathered together in one place, there's also be a HUGE ocean, much bigger than the current Pacific.

Answer 2

The Earth's rotation causes more mass to wind up near the equator than the poles. How much more is determined by how fast the Earth is rotating.

The Earth's rotation is gradually slowing down and the Moon's orbit is gradually getting larger. If the Earth and Moon were the only two objects in the universe, the Earth and Moon would eventually reach a synchronization where both objects always had the same 'face' pointing towards each other. The Sun complicates that process (as well as the other planets), but the Earth will continue to slow down.

If the Earth's rotation rate slows down, then the result is for too much mass to be located near the equator (with no rotation, the Earth would settle into a nearly perfect sphere). The continents shift away from the equator to find a better equilibrium for the Earth's rotation. That means the land masses in the Southern hemisphere will move further away from the land masses in the Northern hemisphere.

The shift in the continents is slower than the decrease in the Earth's rotation rate, but would catch up if the Earth reached the point where it constantly showed the same face to the Moon. The shift occurs in small bursts, relatively speaking, of course. A small shift on a continental scale can result in huge earthquakes and volcanoes on a human scale.

The land masses might converge at each pole, but you'd be left with two land masses instead of one.

Answer 3

The creation of a single giant continent is a somewhat ragged process, and there may be some small stragglers not connected (like Australia), but yes, the continents do combine and then split, in a cycle that takes a billion years or so. When there is a single continent, there is also an even bigger giant ocean, the Pacific at present. The Pacific used to be bigger and is currently closing up. The Americas hitting Asia will be the beginning of the new supercontinent.

Answer 4

Actually the continents have merged multiple times in history. The tectonic plates are constantly moving and yes, it is possible that the continents will merge another time but not for a couple billion years.

Answer 5

I have actually wondered this. They state that before the continents were one. They called it Panegea. They claimed it was a super continent. They say that every year they are now slowing drifting together.

Answer 6

It's likely that the continents will continue to split and drift apart randomly. I'm not aware of any mechanism that would allow them to merge again.

Answer 7

The land masses change all the time, it's a natural process. The Earth creates natural disasters and the world has to adapt around them. Though hopefully you don't have to worry about it during your lifetime.

Answer 8

Yes. It is very true indeed.
A perfect example of the 'continental plates' shifting is Iceland.
Each year it grows by a few millimetres, since it sits right in the middle of the 'European plate' and the 'North Atlantic plate'.

Also, it takes less time to fly over to Japan from the USA by a few seconds and it takes seconds longer to fly to the USA from England.

Answer 9

That is more of a geology question. You could probably get better answers by posting in the Earth Sciences & Geology section.

But even if it did happen, it would take millions of years at least.

Answer 10

Yes
The formation and break-up of supercontinents is modelled by the Wilson Cycle.
In this model it takes ~300 to 500 Ma to go through supercontinent > continental breakup > supercontinent.

http://csmres.jmu.edu/geollab/fichter/Wilson/Wilson.html
http://csmres.jmu.edu/geollab/fichter/Wilson/PTRC.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercontinent_cycle