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In one of the most comprehensive models of plate tectonic motion ever created, scientists have focused a billion years on a 40-second video clip, so we can see how these giant rock plates interact with time.
As they move, the panels affect weather, floods, animal migration and evolution, volcanic activity, metal production, and more – they are not only the covering of the planet, but also a life support system that it affects everything that lives on the surface. .
“For the first time, a complete tectonics model has been developed, including all boundaries,” said geologist Michael Tetley.
“In terms of human time, everything moves in centimeters per year, but, as we can see in the animation, the continents have been everywhere in their time. A place like Antarctica, which we see today as cold, icy and inhospitable, was actually quite a nice vacation spot on the equator.
Land masses close to our neighbors are becoming distant cousins and vice versa, and you may be surprised at how countries and continents have recently settled into the positions we know today.
Understanding these movements and patterns is crucial for scientists to be able to predict what our planet will look like in the future and where we will find the resources necessary to ensure a clean energy future.
Slab motion is assessed by examining a geological record, magnetism, which provides data on the historical position of subcontinents relative to the Earth’s axis of rotation and the types of materials recorded in rock samples that help reconcile the puzzles. of past geological slabs.
Here, the team went to great lengths to select and match the most appropriate models currently available, taking into account both continental motion and interaction along plate boundaries.
“Planet Earth is extremely dynamic, its surface is made up of plates that constantly push each other,” says geoscientist Sabin Zahirovich.
“These plates move at the same speed as our nails grow, but when a billion years fit in 40 seconds, a fascinating dance unfolds. The oceans open and close, the continents periodically disintegrate and recombine to form vast supercontinents. “
The further scientists delve into the past, the more difficult it is to assess how the plates moved, and in this case, the epoch from the Neoproterozoic to the Cambrian (1000-520 million years ago) was carefully planned and aligned to suit more modern records we have.
Questions remain about how these plates were first formed and when this formation occurred, but each new data point helps us understand the history of ancient Earth.
The researchers acknowledge that their work lacks finer detail, but they hope it can be a useful source and a basis for future research on the motion of these tectonic plates and their effects.
“Our team has developed a completely new model of the evolution of the Earth,” says geologist Dietmar Müller.
“Our planet is unique because it comes to life. However, this is only possible because geological processes, such as plate tectonics, provide a system to support life on the planet.”
The study was published in Earth-Science Reviews.
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