Incredible animation shows how much Earth's continents have shifted in 1.8 billion years

The surreal process of plate tectonics has shaped and transformed the Earth. When tectonic plates collide, they form mountains; when they separate, they create deep chasms that eventually become oceans. Over time, this shifting of tectonic plates reshapes continents, allowing new species of plants and animals to evolve. A team of geologists recently reconstructed Earth’s tectonic history over the past 1.8 billion years, as reported by The Conversation. Their findings, published in Geoscience Frontiers, include an animation that visualizes Earth’s changes throughout 40% of its geological history.

Plate tectonics refers to the Earth's crust that is divided into fragments or plates that float above the mantle. Earth is the only planet in the solar system to feature plate tectonics due to its internal heat and liquid water which other planets lack. Plate tectonics doesn’t just shift the geology of Earth, it constantly prompts a range of natural phenomena like volcanoes and earthquakes. When plates collide with each other, their boundary accumulates energy which is released in the form of earthquakes, per Forbes. And when a plate is breaking apart, the cracks in its surface allow magma to rise to the surface, triggering volcanoes.

In the latest research, led by Xianzhi Cao from the Ocean University in China, researchers liken this continental dance of plates to a work of “natural art.” Using a combination of old models, new geophysical data, and improved software, they simulated how the globe experienced variations over the past 1.8 billion years. The researchers took into consideration, the formation of three supercontinents – “Nuna” existing from 2.1 to 1.35 billion years ago, “Rodinia” existing from 1.26 to 0.9 billion years ago, and “Pangaea” existing from 335 to 200 million years ago.

apart, giving rise to Rodinia, which eventually broke up to form Gondwana. About 200 million years ago, during the age of dinosaurs, Gondwana merged with North America, Europe, and northern Asia to form the supercontinent Pangaea. During this time, India began its gradual movement southward.

As the tectonic plates moved around, it didn’t only prompt the formation of new continents, but also new living organisms and new supplies of nutrients. As these plates shifted, the elements buried deep into the Earth rose to the surface and made their way into rivers and oceans, from where organisms started employing these elements in their life. Two of these primary elements are phosphorus and molybdenum. While organisms use phosphorus to build DNA molecules, molybdenum is utilized to strip nitrogen from the atmosphere to make life-sustaining proteins.

Mapping plate tectonics also revealed their chemical interaction with the atmosphere. As metals like cobalt and copper are washed from oxygen-rich fluids deep within the rocks, they form metal ore deposits inside volcanoes, which are expelled during eruptions. While the researchers acknowledge that their model has some errors, they describe it as the “most robust” snapshot of plate tectonics ever created, using extensive paleomagnetic and geological data.