Imagine if the African continent started to break apart—sounds wild, right? Scientists say it's not just sci-fi; it's slowly happening along the East African Rift. This massive crack could eventually split the continent into two, creating a new ocean in the process. Coastal cities might end up underwater, and the landscapes would transform dramatically. And in a very remote future, that could mean our planet will look more like Venus. Animation is created by Bright Side.
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FunTranscript
00:00These days, you're better off boarding a plane
00:03if you want to travel from New York to London.
00:06But what if I told you there was a time
00:09when these two cities were actually on the same continent?
00:13Well, the explanation is a bit more complex.
00:16For starters, back then,
00:18these two cities didn't even exist at all.
00:21But the tectonic plates they sit on today
00:24were a lot closer.
00:25Nearly 200 million years ago,
00:28all of the continents on our planet connected,
00:31making up one large supercontinent.
00:33This enormous piece of land was surrounded by one single ocean.
00:37We call this huge continent Pangaea these days.
00:41Some parts of this continent broke apart
00:44and shifted away from each other
00:45for our maps to reach their current configuration.
00:50There's even a nice experiment you can conduct
00:52to test this theory.
00:54Find a map online and print it on a piece of paper.
00:57After that, simply cut out all of the continents.
01:01Once you start playing around with them,
01:03you'll soon notice they all seem to fit together
01:06like pieces from a puzzle.
01:08Probably the most striking thing you'll see
01:10is how South America perfectly fits Africa.
01:15What's even more fascinating
01:17is that this isn't the first time in our planet's history
01:20that supercontinents have been formed
01:22and then broken apart.
01:24Scientists have figured out
01:25that this happened at least three times before.
01:29And if we consider our planet's age,
01:314.5 billion years,
01:33the last 200 million is closer to the blink of an eye.
01:38So how did scientists figure out that continents move?
01:42Apart from the aspect of today's continents,
01:45they also looked at identical rocks,
01:47which have been found on different continents.
01:50They looked like they formed from the same minerals
01:52and under the same weather conditions.
01:54Some other secret helpers?
01:56Oh, dinosaurs!
01:58Fossils from the same species
02:00have been stumbled upon in both South America and Africa.
02:04This particular dinosaur, named Mesosaurus,
02:07is said to have lived on our planet
02:09way before the continents drifted apart.
02:13It's hard to imagine how life on Earth must have been
02:17with one single continent.
02:19For starters, the climate must have been very different.
02:22That's because the mid-portion of the land
02:25would have probably been bone dry,
02:27having little to no source of water.
02:30More so, it was most likely hidden away
02:32behind many mountain chains.
02:34These would have acted as a barrier
02:36against moisture and rainfall, too.
02:40However, geologists have also studied coal deposits
02:44from the United States and Europe.
02:46These seem to show that at least a part
02:48of the ancient supercontinent,
02:50which was close to the equator,
02:52must have been an amazing tropical rainforest,
02:55just like those we can find in the Amazonian jungle today.
02:59Coal appears when remnants of plants and animals
03:02get stuck into swampy water.
03:04If enough pressure is applied by the water,
03:07the substance is first turned into peat,
03:09then into coal.
03:12Our planet existed in this continental configuration
03:15for over 100 million years.
03:18And during this time,
03:19there was a lot of life on Earth already thriving.
03:22Hey, it was a great time to be an insect!
03:25Critters like beetles and dragonflies flourished.
03:28During the same time period,
03:30the Earth was roamed by the predecessor
03:32of all mammals, the synapsid.
03:36Life in Pangaea was severely hit
03:38during one not-so-great period.
03:41It's believed that a comet or asteroid
03:43landed on the surface of the Earth
03:45about 251 million years ago.
03:48The asteroid or comet theory
03:50seems to fit pretty well,
03:52because 90% of all marine animals
03:55and 70% of the creatures living on land
03:58disappeared all of a sudden.
04:00The comet might not have been
04:01the only reason for the mass extinction.
04:04At the same time,
04:05there was also some important volcanic activity
04:07happening in northern Asia,
04:09which might have disrupted life on Earth.
04:13We may not notice it,
04:14but continents do continue moving
04:17as we speak.
04:18This configuration we now see
04:20with the help of satellite imagery
04:22will surely not be the last.
04:24Australia, for example,
04:26is slowly moving towards Asia.
04:28But the most important proof
04:30that our continents are still shifting
04:32is the eastern portion of Africa.
04:34This area is simply breaking off
04:37from the rest of the land.
04:40To witness this,
04:41you'll have to travel to one of the hottest
04:43places on our planet.
04:44But if you get to this piece of land
04:46on the eastern part of the African continent,
04:49you might sit on top of the exact spot that,
04:52soon enough,
04:53will be split in two by water.
04:57Underneath this region,
04:58three tectonic plates are slowly drifting apart.
05:02If the data is correct,
05:03in the far future,
05:05Africa will be split in two.
05:07And between its two regions,
05:09a new ocean will arise.
05:11To support this theory,
05:13scientists have been closely studying
05:15a 35-mile-long crack
05:17in the Ethiopian desert for years.
05:22For this new ocean to form,
05:23it's estimated that 5 to 10 million years need to pass.
05:28Since our planet's crust
05:29is made out of multiple tectonic plates
05:31that are constantly moving,
05:33it's the perfect place to study this process.
05:36These plates are all irregularly shaped,
05:39and they are always mashing against,
05:41sliding under,
05:42or over each other.
05:45Those three tectonic plates found under the desert
05:48are also moving at different speeds.
05:51One of them, called the Arabian Plate,
05:53is sliding away from Africa
05:55at a speed of about one inch per year.
05:58The other two plates are moving a bit slower,
06:01somewhere between half an inch to 0.2 inches each year.
06:05More so, as these movements happen,
06:07material from deep inside Earth
06:09climbs to the surface
06:11and forms an oceanic crust at the edges.
06:16All this movement does make you wonder,
06:18how will the next supercontinent form,
06:21and when?
06:22So far, scientists came up
06:24with some possible configurations,
06:26each with its own name.
06:28Novopangaea,
06:29Pangaea Ultima,
06:31or Amasia.
06:33All these predictions still vary,
06:35as we're not sure how and why continents
06:38really move over time.
06:40One clue may be actually looking at
06:42how Pangaea separated in the first place.
06:44Regardless, it will take anywhere from
06:4615 to 100 million years
06:48to see the next future continent,
06:50depending on each scenario.
06:54Novopangaea looks at the possibility
06:56in which present-day movements continue.
06:59In this scenario,
07:00the Atlantic Ocean will continue to expand,
07:03all the while making the Pacific smaller.
07:06The two American continents
07:07would first combine northward.
07:10Africa, Europe, and Asia
07:12will already combine, too,
07:14by the time they all meet together
07:16in one single huge piece of land.
07:20Another possible scenario
07:22is called Pangaea Ultima.
07:24In this case,
07:25the Atlantic will slow down in its expansion
07:28and actually become a landlocked body of water.
07:31North America, Africa, Asia, and Europe
07:34would become somewhat parallel pieces of land,
07:37completely sewn together.
07:39Underneath them,
07:40South America, Antarctica, and Australia
07:43would complete the circle
07:44surrounding the North Atlantic.
07:46All the while,
07:47this piece of land would be surrounded
07:49by a large Pacific Ocean.
07:53Amasia looks at a scenario
07:55that's a bit difficult to understand
07:57and study at this point.
07:59Since several tectonic plates
08:01look like they are moving north,
08:02it might be possible that all continents,
08:05apart from Antarctica,
08:06will slide completely toward the North Pole.
08:09The climate would be a lot different
08:11and way colder.
08:13Both the Pacific and the Atlantic,
08:15in this scenario,
08:16would remain open bodies of water.
08:18Scientists believe this to be a real possibility
08:21because of some anomalies left by Pangaea,
08:24deep in the Earth's interior,
08:26in the part called the mantle.
08:29Looking even further into our planet's future,
08:32it's estimated that in about 1 billion years,
08:35the luminosity of the Sun
08:37will be somewhere around 10% higher.
08:40As such,
08:41the atmosphere on Earth
08:42will closely resemble that of a moist greenhouse.
08:45Because of the added heat,
08:47all the bodies of water on our planet
08:49will start to rapidly evaporate.
08:52Moving further,
08:53to 4 billion years from now,
08:55the temperature on our planet
08:56will soon transform it
08:57into a Venus look-alike.
08:59It might get so hot
09:01that the Earth's surface
09:02will begin to melt away.
09:05That's it for today!
09:06So hey,
09:07if you pacified your curiosity,
09:09then give the video a like
09:10and share it with your friends.
09:12Or if you want more,
09:13just click on these videos
09:14and stay on the Bright Side!