Pangea, a supercontinent that included South America, Africa, Antarctica, India, and Australia, began to disintegrate slowly millions of years ago. Tectonic plates can move apart at increasing rates up to 20mm per year, causing violent earth movements, heat, and volcanic activity.
Millions of years ago, a supercontinent now called Pangea contained what would later become South America, Africa, Antarctica, India and Australia. Scientists estimate that the disintegration of Pangea started slowly, with the tectonic plates moving only about a millimeter a year, before gradually picking up speed and completely splitting the continents about 173 million years ago. In 2016, using seismic data and computer models, Australian and German geophysicists quantified the behavior of tectonic plates during continental drifts. When subjected to extreme stresses, the plates can move apart at ever-increasing rates, up to a rate of 20 millimeters per year.
Leaving is difficult:
Scientists from the University of Sydney and the University of Potsdam explained that tectonic plates experience periods of fast and slow motion. The results of increased tectonic plate activity include violent earth movements, high levels of heat, and increased volcanic activity.
“It’s the equivalent of moving like a pedestrian to moving in a very fast BMW,” said study author Dietmar Muller. He compared the maximum speed of the tectonic plates to the speed at which fingernails grow.
The research, published in the scientific journal Nature, was part of a five-year project designed to improve our understanding of how sedimentary basins and continental margins have evolved.
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