Have you ever wondered how the continents in our world took shape? Did you know that over 250 million years ago, the world was comprised of only one large landmass surrounded by a massive ocean? The first-ever landmasses took hundreds of millions of years to form. This was after the Earth cooled and the atmosphere was formed, over 3 billion years ago.
Our Earth has been through hell, taken a severe beating from various external forces, and sacrificed a lot to make life possible for millions of species that thrive today! The movement of tectonic plates is the reason why we see the continents that are present today. Tectonic plates comprise the Earth’s uppermost mantle and comprise oceanic and continental crusts. Earthquakes typically occur around mid-ocean ridges and large faults that mark the edge of plates.
Tectonic plates constantly move even today; that’s the reason why tsunamis and earthquakes occur. The continents which we see today are the result of a 250-million-year-old journey of plate movement. Come, let’s dive into understanding how the movement of plate tectonics have shaped the continents we see today.
Super Continent Pangea
Around 300 to 275 million years ago, a supercontinent called Pangea existed, which was known to be the first-ever landmass to exist. This amazing supercontinent was surrounded by a massive ocean called Panthalassa. Pangea existed during early the Permian period when the first multi-cellular organisms thrived on Earth. Plants, insects, vertebrate animals and early marine life lived during the Permian period.
After studying the geological composition of Earth in 1912, Alfred Wegner, a German meteorologist, proposed the existence of Pangea as a part of his theory of continental drift. Later, geologists further delved into this theory, studied the composition of the Earth’s crust and the movement of plates to confirm the existence of this supercontinent. Pangea in Greek means “all the Earth.”
Continental Plates
The continents we see today are the product of over 250 million years of tectonic plate activity. Pangea began to break apart around 200 years ago during the Early Jurassic Epoch. This supercontinent broke and drifted apart in different directions. Each continent is placed on a specific plate. Some important plates include South American Plate, Eurasian Plate, Indo-Australian plate, North American Plate, Caribbean plate, and Antarctica plate.
Formation of Continents
When Pangea first broke apart, each continental plate broke apart, and the respective plates began moving in different directions according to the movement of the tectonic plates. Another important point to note is that in some cases, the movement of the tectonic plates were accelerated by strong oceanic currents.
The North American plate was the first to break apart and moved in the north-western direction. Another large chunk of landmass at the bottom of Pangea broke off and moved southwards to form Antarctica. The Indo-Australian Plate, stuck to the Antarctic plate, broke apart and moved eastwards with a slight tilt towards the north. The Eurasian plate began moving in the North-East direction. The South American plate began moving towards the west, and the African Plate began moving towards northwards, eventually touching the Eurasian Plate. All these continents moved to their current location over 200 million years.
Formation of the Himalayas
Now that we have seen how the movement of plate tectonics has shaped the continents we see today. You might be wondering, isn’t there something that I have missed out on? Yes, how could one forget about the Indian sub-continent? Well, the best has been saved for the last.
Around 200 million years ago, the tectonic plate that holds the Indian Subcontinent was located in the southernmost region of Pangea right above Antarctica. This plate was sandwiched between the African plate and the Indo-Australian plate. Initially, the African and the Indo-Australian plates broke apart. After another 10 million years, the Indian Subcontinent broke away from the Antarctic Subcontinent and began moving northwards towards Asia.
The plate that held the Indian Subcontinent moved relatively fast. Most of the crust below the Indian Subcontinent came off due to the movement of the oceanic plate, thereby making the landmass much lighter. With excess weight shed off, the Indian Subcontinent travelled relatively faster over millions of years from the region close to Antarctica to Asia. During the initial stage of the journey, a small landmass in the western side of the Indian Subcontinent broke apart and moved along the African plate. This landmass is what is now known as Madagascar.
The Indian Subcontinent made contact with the Eurasian plate around 50 million years ago. The impact of this collision is what caused the formation of the Himalayas. When the Subcontinent collided, the oceanic plate that was attached to the North-East portion of the landmass made contact with the Eurasian plate. This collision lifted the plates to form the Himalayas. Even today, the Indian Subcontinent continues to move Northward by a small margin, causing earthquakes in Nepal and parts of Tibet.
Conclusion
Tectonic plates are constantly moving, and in a few million years into the future, the continents we see today will eventually drift further away. Who knows?? Maybe 200 million years into the future, all continents may even converge together and form a new landmass.
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