Future Plate Tectonics: Pangea Proxima - Vignette 10

This speculative animation shows what the world might look like 250 million years in the future. The first 50 million years is a simple projection of current plate motions. After 75 million years changes in plate boundaries (e.g. collision of Africa with southern Europe and the subduction of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge beneath North and South America) result in a realignment of the forces that drive the plates and cause a fundamental change in the motions of the plates. In 250 million years the Atlantic and Indian Oceans close forming the new supercontinent of “Pangea Proxima“ (literally the next Pangea). Area of geographic interest: global. Geological time interval: modern to 250 million years in the future. [Note: Pangea Proxima was originally called “Pangea Ultima“, but that was a misnomer. This future pangea is the “next“ pangea, not the “last“ pangea.] keywords: Pangea, plate tectonics, future plate tectonics, Pangea Proxima, Pangea Ultima, new subduction zones, future Pangea, Scotese, animation Please cite as: Scotese, C.R., & van der Pluijm, B., 2020. Deconstructing Tectonics: Ten Animated Explorations, “Future Plate Tectonics: Pangea Proxima“, Earth and Space Science, 7, e2019EA000989. https://doi. org/ More Information: There is no certainty about the future plate geometry of the Earth, but using current plate motions and tectonic principles we can make educated guesses about future plate configurations. We surmise that the Atlantic and Indian Oceans will continue to widen until a new subduction zone brings these continents back together, eventually forming a new supercontinent, “Pangea Proxima”. The northward trajectory of Africa suggests that the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden will close, and that the East African Rift will not grow into an ocean basin. Africa will collide with Europe and Arabia closing the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. A Himalayan-scale mountain range will extend from Spain, across Southern Europe, through the Middle East and into Asia. Similarly, Australia will collide with Southeast Asia and a new subduction zone will encircle Australia, extending westwards across the Central Indian Ocean. One of the key events in this geography of the future is the beginning of subduction along the eastern coasts of North America and South America. As the Atlantic Ocean widens, the Puerto Rican Trough and Scotia Arc propagate northward and southward along the east coast of North and South America. In time, this new westward dipping subduction zone will consume the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic Ocean, 100 million years in the future, will begin to narrow by subduction beneath the Americas. The Indian Ocean will also contract due to northward subduction into the Central Indian trench. Antarctica will collide along the southern margin of Australia, and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the last vestige of seafloor spreading in the Atlantic Ocean basin, will be subducted beneath eastern North America. Once the last bit of the Atlantic Ocean’s spreading ridge is subducted beneath the Americas, the Atlantic Ocean will rapidly close and a new supercontinent will begin to form. The rocks that contain the remains of ancient New York City, Boston and Washington DC will be sitting atop high mountain ranges. About 250 million years in the future, the Atlantic and Indian oceans will have closed. North America will have collided with Africa, but in a more southerly position than from where it rifted. In this new supercontinent, South America is wrapped around the southern tip of Africa, with Patagonia in contact with Antarctica and Indonesia, enclosing a remnant of the Indian Ocean. The Pacific has grown much wider, encircling more than half the Earth. We call this future supercontinent, “Pangea Proxima“, because it would be the next Pangea, but not necessarily the last!