Watch 1.8 billion years of plate tectonics on Earth in this new animation.

An animation of 1.8 billion years of tectonic movements

Earth has been around for about 4.6 billion years, forming along with the sun during the creation of the solar system. On September 5, 2024, Xianzhi Cao of the Ocean University in China and colleagues shared a new view of the last 1.8 billion years of Earth’s history. Watch this animation of plate tectonics, as the continents we recognize today quickly break apart and join together as they drift across our planet’s surface.

As Alan Collins of the University of Adelaide explained in The Conversation:

It is the first time Earth’s geological record has been used like this, looking so far back in time. This has enabled us to make an attempt at mapping the planet over the last 40% of its history.

The scientists published their new study in the November 2024 issue of the peer-reviewed journal Geoscience Frontiers.

The history of Earth’s tectonic plates

We can spot some of the supercontinents that formed over the history of Earth in the video. Some of the highlights include Pangea, which persisted from around 300 million years ago to 200 million years ago. Before that was Gondwana, which had its heyday around 600 million years ago. Farther back in time was Rodinia, a supercontinent in existence around 1 billion years ago. And toward the end of the video is Nuna, sometimes called Columbia, which extended back to 1.8 billion years ago.

Collins explains why having a map of Earth’s tectonic history is useful to scientists:

Mapping the past plate tectonics of the planet is the first stage in being able to build a complete digital model of Earth through its history.

Such a model will allow us to test hypotheses about Earth’s past. For example, why Earth’s climate has gone through extreme Snowball Earth fluctuations, or why oxygen built up in the atmosphere when it did.

Indeed, it will allow us to much better understand the feedback between the deep planet and the surface systems of Earth that support life as we know it.

Earth’s tectonic plates today

On Earth today, geologists recognize seven major tectonic plates. But there are also a number of minor plates and microplates. These plates are constantly evolving as they push and pull away from each other and erode or build new material. And one day new tectonic plates will emerge and Earth’s evolution will have new chapters.

Bottom line: Watch a new animation showing Earth’s tectonic and plate boundary evolution over 1.8 billion years and the creation and destruction of numerous supercontinents.

Source: Earth’s tectonic and plate boundary evolution over 1.8 billion years

Via The Conversation