Geologists from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia have predicted that the European continent will crash into the Americas in the next 220 million years.
Geologists from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia have predicted that the European continent will crash into the Americas sometime in approximately 220 million years.
The researchers have identified what they call an embryonic subduction zone off the coast of Portugal where tectonic plates have split and one of them is moving very slowly underneath the other, at an estimated rate of 2 to 8 centimeters a year.
Geologists think that the continents on Earth have broken and reformed at least three times before in ancient history.
Doctor João Duarte from Monash University said: “Significant earthquake activity, including the 1755 quake which devastated Lisbon, indicated that there might be convergent tectonic movement in the area. For the first time, we have been able to provide not only evidences that this is indeed the case, but also a consistent driving mechanism.”
The tectonic shift might mark a new phase for continental drift known as the Wilson Cycle.
It is a widely held scientific belief that the last super continent was Pangea when all of the continents on Earth were joined approximately 250 million years ago.
Geologists from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia have predicted that the European continent will crash into the Americas sometime in approximately 220 million years.
The researchers have identified what they call an embryonic subduction zone off the coast of Portugal where tectonic plates have split and one of them is moving very slowly underneath the other, at an estimated rate of 2 to 8 centimeters a year.
Geologists think that the continents on Earth have broken and reformed at least three times before in ancient history.
Doctor João Duarte from Monash University said: “Significant earthquake activity, including the 1755 quake which devastated Lisbon, indicated that there might be convergent tectonic movement in the area. For the first time, we have been able to provide not only evidences that this is indeed the case, but also a consistent driving mechanism.”
The tectonic shift might mark a new phase for continental drift known as the Wilson Cycle.
It is a widely held scientific belief that the last super continent was Pangea when all of the continents on Earth were joined approximately 250 million years ago.
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