• The plate tectonic theory says that Earth's surface is made upwardly of slabs of rock that are slowly shifting right under our anxiety.
  • Because of this constant motility, today's Earth looks a lot different from what it did millions of years ago.
  • In 1912, German scientist Alfred Wegener proposed that World's continents once formed a single, giant landmass, called Pangaea.
  • Over millions of years, Pangaea slowly bankrupt apart, eventually forming the continents as they are today.
  • The video below shows how this happened over one billion years.

1 billion years of tectonic plate movement in 40 seconds

Co-ordinate to plate tectonic theory, the Earth's surface is made upwards of slabs of stone that are slowly shifting right under our feet.

Because of this abiding move, today's World looks a lot unlike from what it did millions of years agone. Today'south animation looks at the Earth's tectonic plate movement from 1 ga (geological time for one billion years ago) to the present-day, via EarthByte on YouTube.

Editor'south notation: The video starts at fourth dimension 1,000 ma (ane,000 million years ago), and ticks downward at the rate of nearly 25 million years every second.

The emergence of plate tectonic theory

Plate tectonics is a relatively new theory—in fact, co-ordinate to National Geographic, it hadn't become pop until the 1960s. Even so, the concept of continental movement was brewing long before information technology became widely accepted.

In 1912, German scientist Alfred Wegener proposed a theory he chosen continental drift. Co-ordinate to Wegener's theory, Globe's continents once formed a unmarried, giant landmass, which he called Pangaea.

Over millions of years, Pangaea slowly broke apart, somewhen forming the continents every bit they are today. Wegener believed this continental drift explained why the borders of S America and Africa looked like matching puzzle pieces. He also pointed to similar rock formations and fossils on these two continents as proof to back his theory.

Initially, the scientific customs wasn't on board with the theory of continental drift. But equally more information emerged over the years, including research on seafloor spreading, the theory started to gain traction.

The supercontinent cycle

Nowadays, it's believed that Pangea was just one of several supercontinents to mass together (and intermission apart) over the course of geological history.

The verbal number of supercontinents is largely debated, simply co-ordinate to the Encylopedia of Geology, here are v (including Pangea) that are widely recognized:

Kenorland: ii.7-2.5 billion years ago

Nuna/Columbia: i.6-1.4 billion years ago

Rodinia: 950–800 million years agone

Pannotia: 620-580 million years ago

Pangea: 325-175 1000000 years ago

According to the theory, this cycle of breaking apart and meeting happens because of subduction, which occurs when tectonic plates converge with one some other.

The supercontinent cycle besides ties into sea formation. The below example of the Wilson Cycle specifically keys in on how the Atlantic Ocean, and its predecessor, the Iapetus Ocean, were formed as supercontinents drifted apart:

a chart showing the different supercontinents and when they were formed

Pangea was just i of several supercontinents to mass together (and interruption autonomously) over the course of geological history.

Paradigm: Visual Capitalist

The importance of plate tectonics

Plate tectonics has been a game-changer for geologists. The theory has helped to explain tons of unanswered geological questions, assisting scientists in understanding how volcanoes, mountains, and sea ridges are formed.

Saving the planet

What is the Globe Economic Forum doing around the issue of deep-sea mining?

Minerals critical to the clean energy transition have been found in the deep ocean flooring. These include cobalt, lithium, copper, nickel, manganese and zinc that are used in batteries for electric vehicle and portable electronics, electronic appliances, energy generation and many other aspects of our daily lives.

Deep-sea mining could offering lower financial cost and a lighter carbon footprint than conventional terrestrial sources of these minerals; it besides has the potential to significantly harm one of the last natural wildernesses on our plant. In this relatively young sector, scientific knowledge is however existence built on the potential impact of the manufacture, and the effectiveness of the proposed direction methods. Equally the date for decisions on permitting deep-bounding main mining contracts gets closer, a violent debate is emerging on if and how mining should take place. The need for a platform to host a balanced exchange on the effect has become evident.

The World Economic Forum's Platform for Shaping the Future of Global Public Goods has the Deep-Sea Mining Dialogue, an impartial platform that allows different stakeholders to share their cognition and perspective on the topic and participate in an bear witness-based soapbox. The Dialogue invites companies in the metal value chain, manufacturers that use metals, environmental groups, institutes and scientists across unlike disciplines to come up together in a constructive, collaborative and open commutation.

The Dialogue helps inform downstream businesses that use metals in their products well-nigh the implications of this potential new source of minerals. The World Economic Forum will exist gathering available data and analysis and highlighting critical gaps of existing knowledge to institute a fact-base. Through establishing a framework on responsible metal sourcing, the Dialogue reframes the heated argue on deep-sea mining as a collaborative exploration for a shared vision for the futurity. The aim is to attain an informed and consensual agreement on the most responsible path forrad.

It'southward also valuable for the oil and gas industry since it explains how sedimentary basins were created, allowing geologists and engineers to target and locate vast oil reserves.

Since the theory of plate tectonics is relatively new, in that location's still a lot to be discovered in this field of research. However, in March 2021, a report was published in Earth-Science Reviews that, for the offset time, visualized a continuous plate model that shows how Earth's plates take shifted over the last billion years.

The video higher up visualizes this particular report and accurately depicts the Earth's tectonic plates' movement or the observed shift in World'due south tectonic plates over the years.