Future Plate Motions & Pangea Proxima - Scotese Animation

This animation shows my best guess as to how the plates will evolve in the near, and distant future. These maps are based on a set of reconstructions that appears at the PALEOMAP website (). In 1982, as a graduate student, I produced a set of future maps for an article in Discover Magazine (November, 1982). This was the first appearance of the future Pangea - originally named “Pangea Ultima“. I have subsequently renamed this future supercontinent to Pangea Proxima, reflecting the fact that plate tectonics will continue for several more billion years and that other future pangeas are very likely. The key tectonic event that results in the formation of Pangea Proxima is the start of westward dipping subduction along the Atlantic coasts of North and South America. This new subduction zone eventually consumes the Atlantic mid-ocean ridge. Once the spreading ridge is gone, the Atlantic Ocean must close. Other important, future tectonic events are: The start of subduction in the central India