FUTURE EARTH (IN 250 MILLION YEARS FROM NOW)

(Pangaea Proxima)

Since the beginning of the Earth, its continents have been and still are in constant motion, as tectonic plates collide together and break apart. Uplift will continually form new mountain ranges in the continents, whereas old ocean-floor crust will be pulled below the Earth's surface (i.e., subducted) and eventually disappear (re-melted). This process of formation of new mountain ranges and subduction of the older ocean floor has been going on since the beginning of Earth and will continue as long as the inside of Earth generates heat.

Today, the Atlantic Ocean is widening by approximately an inch year, as the ocean floor plate under it is spreading apart, forming new oceanic crust. The older, overlying granitic land masses move about and their shapes can get re-configured, but overall, because of their lighter density, they will remain on the Earth’s surface.

In about 250 million years, a new supercontinent (i.e., Pangaea Proxima) will most likely form. Only a vestige of the Atlantic Ocean will remain, as its shores collide, but the land masses of the continents will grow larger because of the collisions.

The map shown here is based on a map published by National Geographic in 2018.

Reconstructions of the land masses through time have been mapped and compiled by numerous workers. One of the most notable is C. R. Scotese (his maps are readily available online, eg. Scotese, 2021). He has studied and shown in detail, the reconstruction of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic land masses through time.  

Reference

Chwastyk, F. W. 2028. Future Earth. National Geographic, June, 2018. 

Scotese, C. R. 2021. An atlas of Phaneozoic paleogeographic maps: the seas come in and the seas go out. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, v. 49:679–728 (free pdf).