The tectonic plates that cover the Earth like a jigsaw puzzle move around as fast as our nails grow, but over a billion years that’s enough to travel all over the planet – like which an exciting new video shows.
In one of the most complete models of tectonic plate motion ever compiled, scientists have condensed billions of years of motion into a 40-second video clip, so we can see how these large rock slabs interacted over time.
As they move, the plates are influenced by climate, tidal patterns, animal movements and how they grow, volcanic activity, metal production and more: they are more than just cover for the planet, they are a life support system that affects everything. that lives on the surface.
“For the first time a complete model of tectonics has been built, encompassing all boundaries,” geologist Michael Tetley, who completed his PhD at the University of Sydney, told Euronews.
“On a human time frame, things move in centimeters every year, but as we can see from the animation, the continents have been everywhere. There was a place like Antarctica that we seen as a cold, frozen place today, indeed at one time. a nice holiday destination at the equator. “
The movement and sliding of the plates is a real sight if you watch the video – land masses near neighbors become distant cousins and vice versa, and you might be surprised you just recently the nations and continents settled into the occupations we know today.
Understanding these trends and patterns is crucial if scientists are to predict the future potential of our planet, and where we are going to find the metal resources. ‘we need to ensure clean energy in the future.
Plate movement is measured through a study of the geological record – the magnetism that provides data on the historical position of substrates relative to the Earth’s spinning axis and the types of materials trapped in rock samples that help match the pieces of geological plate puzzles passed together.
Here the team went to great lengths to select and bring together the most suitable models currently available, looking at both continental trends and their interactions across plate boundaries.
“Planet Earth is very vibrant, with the surface made up of plates that are constantly bouncing apart in a way that is unique among known rock planets,” says geologist Sabin Zahirovic. , from the University of Sydney.
“These plates move at the speed of fingerprints, but when billions of years are compressed into 40 seconds a false dance will appear. Oceans open and close, continents disperse and retreat from time to time to form large supercontinents. “
The further scientists go into the past, the more difficult it will be to estimate how plates have moved, and in this case the Neoproterozoic times went to Cambrian (1,000 to 520 million years ago) specifically recorded and introduced to conform to the larger. we have up-to-date records.
There are still questions about how these plates were first created and when this creation took place, but every new data point helps us to understand the ancient history of the Earth – even an account of it. plates required in some models.
The scientists admit that their work does not have much detail – stretched as it is all over the planet and billions of years – but they hope that it can be a useful resource and as a basis for studying these future trends and the impact they have on everything else on the planet.
“Our team has created a whole new model of Earth’s evolution over the past billion years,” says geologist Dietmar Müller, of the University of Sydney.
“Our planet is unique in the way it hosts life. But that is only possible because geological processes, such as plate tectonics, provide a planet’s life support system.”
The research was published in Earth Science Reviews.