Continental Drift 101 | National Geographic

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·Nov 11, 2024

Talk about the ultimate breakup. Europe and Africa have been splitting apart from the American continents for millions of years at a rate of approximately 2.5 cm per year. The continents are moving about as fast as our fingernails grow. As they continue to split, the rift between them, otherwise known as the Atlantic Ocean, will get even wider.

All this drama is leaving behind a major scar: an underwater valley called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which tears more and more as the continents slowly move apart. Looking back on the continental relationship puts us a mere 300 million years ago when Africa, Europe, the Americas, and all the other continents were one big landmass, the famed supercontinent Pangaea.

Due to the constant shurring of magma underneath the Earth's crust, they all split up and moved to their modern-day positions. But if destiny, in the form of magma and tectonic plates, has anything to say about it, the continents might have a chance of getting back together.

But how will these stubborn continents kiss and make up? Scientists believe the plates will shift, causing the continents to rearrange and get back together. But in true tectonic plate style, it'll take about 250 million years. Our planet has a violent soul, majestic and often destructive. Volcanic explosions rattle our collective imagination.

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