Earth’s Next Supercontinent Is Forming Right Now

Bright Side

Our planet’s continents aren’t done moving—they’re slowly drifting toward each other again, inch by continental inch. Scientists say that a new supercontinent is already in the works, with landmasses converging over tens of millions of years. In this video, we’ll trace how Africa, Australia, and Antarctica might one day merge, and explore what that means for climate, oceans, and you. This isn’t some distant fantasy—it’s happening now, and its effects could shape Earth’s future for eons. So buckle up and let’s roam across deep time together—this is more than just plate tectonics; it’s Earth rewriting her map.  Animation is created by Bright Side.  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/   Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV  Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Our Social Media:  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightplanet/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en   Stock materials (photos, footages and other):  https://www.depositphotos.com  https://www.shutterstock.com  https://www.eastnews.ru  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.

Transcript

00:00Now, history teaches us that the supercontinent existed a long time ago, around 300 to 273 million years back.

00:09At that time, all the continents on Earth were buddies and hanging out together.

00:14They formed an amazing crew called Pangaea, or Pangaea if you're feeling fancy.

00:20The name comes from a Greek word which means all the Earth.

00:24Pangaea also had a massive water neighbor called Panthalassa.

00:28So, our entire world was a huge piece of land surrounded by a huge piece of ocean.

00:34The megacontinent looked like a giant sea, stretching between the tippy-top and bottom of our planet.

00:40But as stories go, things changed.

00:44About 200 million years ago, in the early Jurassic era, like dinosaur times, Pangaea decided to throw a breakaway party.

00:53Forget about the old ideas of continents just drifting around like big icebergs.

00:57It split up into smaller chunks, forming the continents we know today.

01:02Oh, and it created the Atlantic and Indian Oceans as a bonus.

01:08Pangaea's tale was first told by a German weather expert named Alfred Wegener in 1912.

01:15But how did he learn about something that happened so long ago?

01:19Imagine the Earth's core as a big, cozy fireplace, giving off heat.

01:24This heat creates special swirling currents in the Earth's outer shell.

01:29We can think of it as the Earth's crust, which looks like a big puzzle with many puzzle pieces.

01:34The hot currents make these puzzle pieces, called crustal plates, move around.

01:40Sometimes they push apart.

01:41Sometimes they crash into each other.

01:44And sometimes they slide past one another.

01:47It's like a fantastic dance party that goes on beneath our feet.

01:50One day, Wegener looked at the shapes of the continents and thought that,

01:55hey, those coastlines of South America and Africa kind of fit together.

02:00And they really did.

02:02So he imagined that way back, all of the continents hung out together as one big landmass.

02:08But he couldn't just go and say that without any proof.

02:14So how do we know Pangaea really was a thing?

02:17Well, there are some clues that brought us to this amazing discovery.

02:22One clue is like when you put a puzzle together and the pieces fit just right.

02:27Take a look at the shapes of today's continents.

02:30You'll notice that they could fit together almost like a perfect match.

02:34Obviously, their shapes changed over time.

02:36It happened millions of years ago.

02:38And since then, the shores of continents have been washed by waters for years.

02:43But even so, we can still see how well they fit together.

02:47Another clue comes from checking out fossils.

02:50We know that ancient animals left a lot of fossils behind.

02:54That's how we learned their history and what species there were.

02:57But when scientists compared fossils found on different continents,

03:01they found something interesting.

03:03These fossils look similar.

03:04Surprisingly, they belong to the same groups of animals, even though they were far apart.

03:10It's not like these animals could swim across the ocean on their poor paws.

03:15And it's unlikely that this particular type of animal originated in two places at the same time.

03:23And finally, the mountains.

03:25Imagine exploring underwater and finding huge mountains in the oceans.

03:29These underwater ranges and deep trenches are like scars from when Earth's tectonic plates moved around.

03:36They serve as another proof that the continents are part of something bigger.

03:41When you look at these things together, you get a pretty clear picture.

03:44The Earth's continents were once huddled together in the supercontinent.

03:47They've since gone their separate ways.

03:51But the memories of their grand adventure are still written in the shapes of coastlines,

03:56the rocks they left behind, and many more.

03:58But it's obvious to us now.

04:01At the time of Wegener's discovery, there were different ideas flying around.

04:05Some folks thought that the continents sank down to make the oceans.

04:08But Wegener had a different take.

04:11He thought that the continents are always on the move.

04:14He even came up with a fancy phrase, continental drift, to explain it.

04:22Later, he was joined by another scientist named Alexander Dutoy.

04:26He added a little twist to the story, suggesting there were two original continents,

04:31Laurasia in the north and Gondwanda in the south.

04:34But the real party didn't start until the 1960s, when scientists figure out the secret

04:39ingredient in this recipe – plate tectonics.

04:43And finally, this theory explained everything Wegener and Dutoy talked about.

04:49Wegener's theory was proven correct after 50 years.

04:53As time passed, we learned more and more about our planet.

04:56We found out that the Earth used to have multiple supercontinents.

05:00Before Pangaea, there was a megacontinent called Rodinia.

05:04Around a billion years ago.

05:06And later on, Panosha joined the scene about 600 million years ago.

05:14What's interesting is that the continental drift story is far from over.

05:19Our continents are always on the move.

05:21Africa is giving Europe a friendly bump.

05:24And Australia is playing a game of bumper cars with Southeast Asia.

05:28You know what's on the horizon?

05:29Another supercontinent.

05:31So, how will this next supercontinent come together?

05:35Well, there are four major possibilities.

05:38Novo Pangaea, Pangaea Ultima, Orica, and Amasia.

05:43These might sound like superhero names, but they're actually ways the puzzle pieces could fit.

05:48Let's look at them all.

05:50First, Novo Pangaea.

05:52You know how there's the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other?

05:56Well, if these oceans keep doing what they're doing now, the Atlantic will keep opening up while the Pacific squeezes in.

06:05If that happens, the Americas, North and South America, will give each other a big high five.

06:11And Antarctica, that icy land way down south, will join the fun too.

06:16It'll be drifting northward.

06:17Next, Pangaea Ultima.

06:23In the future, the Atlantic Ocean might get tired of being so wide.

06:27It might decide to slow down and shrink a bit.

06:31The Americas and the northward drifting Antarctica will probably crash into Africa and Europe.

06:37And just like that, a brand new supercontinent forms.

06:40There are these spots where the ocean floor is sliding underneath the land.

06:45It's like a secret underwater passage.

06:48These spots are called subduction zones.

06:50So, if these secret tunnels will be spreading and spreading all along the east coast of the Americas,

06:56the Americas, Europe, and Africa might come together again.

07:00And they'd form a supercontinent.

07:03This supercontinent would be surrounded by the Pacific Ocean.

07:06The next possible supercontinent is Orica.

07:09In this scenario, the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans might decide to take a nap and close up.

07:15But don't worry, because when one door closes, another opens.

07:20In this case, a whole new ocean would pop up to replace them.

07:26Imagine a big crack in the ground cutting through Asia, like a zipper opening up.

07:31This crack is called the Pan-Asian Rift, and it would become a brand new ocean.

07:36With this new ocean comes a new supercontinent, Orica.

07:41Australia is currently drifting northwards, like it's trying to find a nice spot at the center of our planet.

07:47East Asia and the Americas might join in from both sides.

07:51After that, Europe and Africa might link up with the Americas, and boom, Orica.

07:56And finally, Amasia.

07:59It might form if some of the tectonic plates go north.

08:02They can take continents like Africa and Australia along for the ride.

08:06They'll be hanging out around the North Pole.

08:09All the continents, except Antarctica, might come together.

08:12And even though they might gather around the North Pole, they won't close off the oceans.

08:20The Atlantic and Pacific Oceans would still be open for business.

08:24How this grand reunion happens depends on the Earth's tectonic movements.

08:29So far, we believe that Novo Pangaea is the most likely scenario.

08:34It also depends on what exactly happened to Pangaea after it broke apart.

08:38And when the new supercontinent appears, what's going to happen with the weather?

08:43How will the ocean behave?

08:45And what about the animals and plants?

08:47These questions all light up our minds.

08:50Who knows?

08:51Maybe someday, our descendants will look at the world map and see this incredible journey come full circle.

08:57So keep asking curious questions and stay tuned for the next 100 million years.

09:02So, the distance from New York to Lisbon, on the other side of the Atlantic, is well over 3,000 miles.

09:12At the average walking speed for a human, you could trek there in a month and a half.

09:17That's not counting the rest stops and much-needed sleep.

09:20Buying an airline ticket or boarding a ship aren't just better options, but the only travel possibilities right now.

09:26But if this long journey on foot became possible one day, would you be up for the challenge?

09:32The most obvious obstacle is all that water in the Atlantic Ocean.

09:37It covers around a fifth of the Earth's surface.

09:40All the oceans take up around 70% of our planet.

09:43When you open the tap or buy a bottle, you are drinking a tiny percentage of potable water.

09:4997% of Earth's water is located in oceans.

09:53It's all salt water, and it's not drinkable.

09:55Add this 2% of water trapped in glaciers and ice sheets, and you get less than 1% of water that we actually drink.

10:05When you put these percentages into numbers, you'll need a long sheet of paper to write them all down.

10:11The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that there are over 330 million cubic miles of water in the world.

10:18It's essential for sustaining all life forms, including humans.

10:22Oceans play a vital role in regulating air temperature around the globe.

10:26If they didn't have any water, the area around the equator would be scourged.

10:31This imaginary line that divides our planet in half runs through 13 countries in total, such as Brazil, Kenya, and Indonesia.

10:40The world's oceans are critical for our planet's water cycle.

10:43You know, like the one you learned about in school?

10:45It rains from the clouds, and water eventually ends up in rivers that empty into the oceans.

10:51Then sunlight warms up this vast body of water, so it evaporates into the atmosphere to form new clouds.

10:58Then the cycle starts over.

11:01This process shapes the global climate.

11:03That's why, for example, the Mediterranean is so popular for the summer holidays.

11:08The region is temperate.

11:09If we take the oceans out of the equation, the water cycle stops.

11:16The area where they once sat would turn into a huge dust bowl.

11:20There would be dirt as far as the eye could see.

11:23Since there is no more evaporation, clouds won't form.

11:26Rain would become scarce.

11:28Humans would soon run out of sources of drinking water.

11:32The landscape of our planet would turn into a vast desert.

11:35Imagine a Sahara-like terrain stretching across the surface of our planet.

11:40Everything would become so dry that fires would break out easily.

11:45These are hardly the ideal conditions for a long trek between continents.

11:49But let's imagine you were able to survive all this.

11:53You start walking across the desert land that was once the Atlantic Ocean.

11:57What would that journey be like?

11:59You would encounter a landscape different from the one above the waterline.

12:03Everything below the waves is taller and deeper than the world we know.

12:08This is the land of extremes.

12:10Take, for example, the highest mountain on the planet.

12:13If you were thinking about the Himalayas and its tallest peak, Mount Everest, you are correct.

12:18Well, kind of.

12:21This mountain range is the highest when you measure it from the sea level.

12:25Just above 29,000 feet in height.

12:27But when you measure the height of the mountain from its base to the peak, then the Himalayas drop to second place.

12:35The highest mountain on Earth is actually Mauna Kea in Hawaii.

12:39It's a dormant volcano.

12:40In the local language, its name translates as White Mountain.

12:45Nearly half of it lies under the waves of the Pacific Ocean.

12:48Its full height is close to a mile higher than Mount Everest, at 33,500 feet.

12:55We can't appreciate its scale right now, but if the Pacific dried up, we would be able to stand at the base of this giant.

13:03The bottom of the Atlantic hides a similar mountain range.

13:06It's the largest geological feature on the planet.

13:08We can't see it because the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is almost completely submerged.

13:13It rises from the ocean floor to a height half of that of Mount Kilimanjaro.

13:20The width of the massive underwater range reaches one-tenth of Earth's diameter.

13:26The only visible sections of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge are islands such as Iceland and the Azores.

13:32The remotest inhabited island in the world also belongs to the visible part of this geo-formation.

13:38Perhaps the only thing more impressive than its size is the date of the discovery of its ridge.

13:44Scientists charted it out in the 1950s.

13:47It's pretty recent when you consider our civilization is thousands of years old.

13:52This shows how little we know about what's hiding under the surface of our oceans.

13:56UNESCO estimates that humans have explored only 5% of Earth's oceans.

14:02It seems hard to believe, but more people have been to the moon than at the bottom of the ocean.

14:07The deepest place on our planet lies in the Mariana Trench.

14:13The discovery of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge revealed the secret behind the formation of continents and oceans.

14:20When you know the truth behind their origins, you'll know what to expect on your imaginary trek across the Atlantic.

14:26The ridge sits right between North America and Europe.

14:30But you need to think of these landmasses not as continents, but as tectonic plates.

14:36These are huge chunks of Earth's outer layer.

14:39It's called a lithosphere, and it's mostly comprised of rock.

14:42There are around 15 to 20 such ginormous plates on our planet.

14:47They float on a layer of partially molten rock.

14:49Well, they don't actually float.

14:52But that's the term scientists use to best describe their instability.

14:59Tectonic plates are constantly on the move.

15:02They can bump into each other.

15:04In this case, one plate goes down, while the other one is lifted.

15:08This creates vast amounts of energy.

15:10On the surface, we get earthquakes and volcanoes.

15:13Tectonic forces gave our planet its familiar shape.

15:16That's how the Himalayas formed 40 to 50 million years ago.

15:21Around that time, the Indian plate shifted northward.

15:24It bumped into the southern part of the Eurasian plate.

15:27Since the two plates were composed of a similar type of rock,

15:30they each refused to go under the other.

15:33The only possible direction was up.

15:35This process is still not over.

15:37The range grows by a third of an inch every year.

15:41A similar thing is happening with the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

15:46It is widening at an annual rate of 1.5 inches.

15:50And there's an interesting side effect of this process.

15:54Do you remember the time when you were building sandcastles?

15:57In order to build the keep, you needed to dig up a lot of sand around it.

16:01As the castle grew in size, the hole around it became bigger.

16:05The same thing is happening in the Atlantic Ocean, but on a much larger scale.

16:09As the ridge is getting wider and wider, the two coasts are drifting away from each other.

16:15The North American plate and the Eurasian plate are moving apart.

16:19This means that your imaginary trip in a world without oceans might take longer.

16:24For every year you wait, you'll need to cover an extra inch.

16:28Now, that doesn't seem like much today.

16:30But give it some time, and you might not have to embark on a cross-continental journey after all.

16:35The continents will come to you.

16:39Now, evaporation is not the only way to drain an ocean.

16:43The coast on each side of an ocean might simply close in on it.

16:47This is what scientists believe will happen to the Pacific.

16:51Some 50 million years from now, give or take, you wouldn't be able to recognize the Earth's largest ocean.

16:57Experts ran a series of computer simulations to see where North and South America are headed.

17:03The answer is to the North Pole.

17:05This is where they'll merge with Asia in the distant future.

17:09The new supercontinent will completely change the shape and size of the Pacific Ocean.

17:14Geologists have a name ready for this landmass.

17:17Amasia.

17:17That's it for today.

17:22So, hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends.

17:27Or, if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the bright side.

17:31What?

17:31Do you do it for today?

17:31What?

17:31So, what do you do it for me?

17:32What you do it for me?

17:34Well, I look going more to say this video.

17:36All right.

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17:37What I did for today?

17:38Bye-bye.

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17:39Follow me on the bright side.

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17:40I just Из her head of fear, well, I love you.

17:41Подn't you yet.

17:42go ahead, you guys ahead.

17:43I hope you booing me everywhere.

17:45I enjoy.

17:46Moving on into applause.

17:47So, let's see this video.

17:48Episode 6-8.

17:56Y住 of course.

17:57Leight was get up here, too.

17:58I'migation God.

17:58You're not going to add.

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