Dance of the Continents
February 9, 2021 8:40 AM Subscribe
Geoscientists at the Univ. of Sydney have published a model of continental plate movement of the last billion years, accompanied by a cool video demonstrating this dance.
Pretty neat. Interesting that 500 million years ago almost all of the land mass was in the southern hemisphere. That must have had dramatic effects on climate with all ocean to the north and all the land to the south and prevailing winds that primarily go west to east without crossing the equator.
I see the outlines of some recognizable countries as they move around. It would be easier to follow over time if they added different colors to the various pieces. For example there was coal deposited in Antarctica during the Permian when part of Antarctica was near the equator but it's kind of hard to follow.
posted by JackFlash at 9:14 AM on February 9, 2021
I see the outlines of some recognizable countries as they move around. It would be easier to follow over time if they added different colors to the various pieces. For example there was coal deposited in Antarctica during the Permian when part of Antarctica was near the equator but it's kind of hard to follow.
posted by JackFlash at 9:14 AM on February 9, 2021
That's a great video.
Is there a way to play a YouTube in reverse?
Yes
posted by otherchaz at 9:55 AM on February 9, 2021 [2 favorites]
Is there a way to play a YouTube in reverse?
Yes
posted by otherchaz at 9:55 AM on February 9, 2021 [2 favorites]
I have developed a recent interest/fascination in the Alpine Orogeny. at the very end of the cool video you can just see the Indian plate begin to reach the Eurasian plate. bam!
posted by supermedusa at 10:13 AM on February 9, 2021
posted by supermedusa at 10:13 AM on February 9, 2021
Direct link to the YouTube video that's buried in the body of the second linked article.
It's fascinating to watch the movement of the plates speed up and slow down over time. Also, I'd learned at some point that the Indian subcontinent had amazingly zoomed north at one point to crash into the Asian continent and push up the Himalayas, but it looks like it wasn't especially more zoomy than plenty other pieces. Plus it there seems to have been a sliver of land that got pinched between India and the mainland; maybe that helped it get squeezed upward?
(on preview: jinx, supermedusa!)
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:16 AM on February 9, 2021 [3 favorites]
It's fascinating to watch the movement of the plates speed up and slow down over time. Also, I'd learned at some point that the Indian subcontinent had amazingly zoomed north at one point to crash into the Asian continent and push up the Himalayas, but it looks like it wasn't especially more zoomy than plenty other pieces. Plus it there seems to have been a sliver of land that got pinched between India and the mainland; maybe that helped it get squeezed upward?
(on preview: jinx, supermedusa!)
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:16 AM on February 9, 2021 [3 favorites]
Southern hemisphere, represent!*
* 400 million years ago.
posted by piyushnz at 11:21 AM on February 9, 2021
* 400 million years ago.
posted by piyushnz at 11:21 AM on February 9, 2021
Help me understand the video. It looks like plates move around then snap to a whole different orientation. What's happening there?
posted by booth at 11:34 AM on February 9, 2021
posted by booth at 11:34 AM on February 9, 2021
I didn't know what "Ma" meant. Turns out you can use prefixes like kilo-, mega-, giga-, and so on with years too, so Ma = mega-annum = one million years.
posted by trig at 11:48 AM on February 9, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by trig at 11:48 AM on February 9, 2021 [3 favorites]
It looks like plates move around then snap to a whole different orientation. What's happening there?
Imagine you're pushing some inflatable rafts around a swimming pool. When you push one raft it might nudge another raft and cause the second raft to move. If there's something blocking the second raft on the other side, and you're only sort of brushing up against it, the second raft might just spin in place. This is especially true if someone else is pushing a third raft past it in the other direction. That's pretty much what's happening here, with the continental plates playing the part of the rafts and the earth's mantle being both the pool and the direct source of the pushing forces (what's pushing the mantle, and why the pushing seems to change location and direction, is beyond my layman's understanding).
posted by fedward at 12:17 PM on February 9, 2021 [4 favorites]
Imagine you're pushing some inflatable rafts around a swimming pool. When you push one raft it might nudge another raft and cause the second raft to move. If there's something blocking the second raft on the other side, and you're only sort of brushing up against it, the second raft might just spin in place. This is especially true if someone else is pushing a third raft past it in the other direction. That's pretty much what's happening here, with the continental plates playing the part of the rafts and the earth's mantle being both the pool and the direct source of the pushing forces (what's pushing the mantle, and why the pushing seems to change location and direction, is beyond my layman's understanding).
posted by fedward at 12:17 PM on February 9, 2021 [4 favorites]
Imagine being a sailor on the great northern ocean of 500MA or during 250Ma when there a continental mass at North and South Pole and continuous shelf or continent joining the two. In the latter nearly all the continental mass was constrained to just 150 degrees of latittude. Imagine the storms meeting land.
posted by Mitheral at 12:58 PM on February 9, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by Mitheral at 12:58 PM on February 9, 2021 [2 favorites]
I want a spherical display monitor on which I can watch this video without distortion.
posted by brambleboy at 2:01 PM on February 9, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by brambleboy at 2:01 PM on February 9, 2021 [4 favorites]
Pretty neat. Interesting that 500 million years ago almost all of the land mass was in the southern hemisphere.
I grew up in Canada. I was just reflecting a few days ago that it has been about twenty years since I first crossed the equator. I see now that my neighbourhood did so about 335 million years ago.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 3:24 PM on February 9, 2021 [2 favorites]
I grew up in Canada. I was just reflecting a few days ago that it has been about twenty years since I first crossed the equator. I see now that my neighbourhood did so about 335 million years ago.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 3:24 PM on February 9, 2021 [2 favorites]
I want a spherical display monitor on which I can watch this video without distortion.
Ideally with all the local radio stations all over Gondwanaland.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 3:25 PM on February 9, 2021
Ideally with all the local radio stations all over Gondwanaland.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 3:25 PM on February 9, 2021
What's the difference between the jagged red lines and the smoother blue ones?
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:30 PM on February 9, 2021
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:30 PM on February 9, 2021
The blue lines appear to be spreading zones where new crust is being created by volcanism and plates are expanding, like the current Mid-Atlantic ridge. The red lines are subduction zones where one plate is plunging under another plate and being consumed, like at the western margin of the U.S. The red arrows point in the direction of the descending plate.
posted by JackFlash at 5:52 PM on February 9, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by JackFlash at 5:52 PM on February 9, 2021 [2 favorites]
Greenland is clearly visible as a distinct landmass, unchanged in its current shape, size, and composition throughout the entire history of the planet Earth.
Who knows what paleogæan ruins of the Great Old Ones lurk beneath its titan ice sheet?
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 9:02 PM on February 9, 2021 [3 favorites]
Who knows what paleogæan ruins of the Great Old Ones lurk beneath its titan ice sheet?
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 9:02 PM on February 9, 2021 [3 favorites]
It's definitely cool to watch Greenland in the reverse video link someone posted above. You can follow it as it sails halfway around the world. No wonder it has some of the oldest rocks in the world.
posted by tavella at 8:22 AM on February 10, 2021
posted by tavella at 8:22 AM on February 10, 2021
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Is there a way to play a YouTube in reverse?
posted by MtDewd at 9:06 AM on February 9, 2021