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Continental drift in the future-Africa
Topic Started: Nov 21 2017, 03:02 PM (272 Views)
LλmbdaExplosion
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As i imagine some critters from the future,i inevitably wondered about future placement of the continents like Eurasia,Africa,Australia,South America and North America.Many say that Africa will plow into Eurasia,forming a mountain plateau exactly where the Mediterranean sea was.But there are very few studies about this exact subject.I predict and i like the idea that Africa itself will go South far from Europe and then it will go in the same path as India, combining either with Asia or it will fuse with both Americas at some point.I know this is a speculative idea,but what is the likely future?
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Chuditch
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Well, Africa is moving northwards, so it is likely that it is going to smash into Europe. Usually continents will follow the same path; direction changes can occur but I'm pretty sure it is too late for Africa to turn back.
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CaledonianWarrior96
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I haven't read any actual papers on a Afroeuropean mountain range forming but I've always based that on the fact that, like Gondwandian said, is because Africa is moving northwards I'd say Africa hitting Europe is more likely than it suddenly going south. If I'm right all current continental drift will carry out that way for perhaps the next 10 million years at least
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There's nothing preventing tectonic currents from shifting.


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LittleLazyLass
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It would be preferable if you ask such questions in the questions that don't need their own topics thread in the future.
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LλmbdaExplosion
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Yiqi15
Nov 21 2017, 03:59 PM
There's nothing preventing tectonic currents from shifting.


That is how they work, right?
I heard at some point on a site that Africa slowed down it's movement because of the Indian Plate combining with Eurasia .In a prediction,med.sea will close in 40 million years so it's still time to turn back.
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Nembrotha
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From what I know, Africa is most definitely moving towards Europe. Within a few tens of millions of years, the Mediterranean will vanish and a Mountain Range will rise up in its place. I'd imagine that this would thrust up a part of Europe as well, and probably lead to a drier climate, much like when India collided with Asia and created the Himalayas.

Speaking of Africa, I think it should also be mentioned that the Great Rift Valley will eventually split off East Africa from the mainland, becoming its own continent. Although, this fact has probably been covered thousands of times before, so you may have already heard of this. Sorry if any of this is wrong, my geology isn't the best.
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whachamacallit2
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Africa has been moving in a generally Northeast direction for 100 million years. While there is a chance that the African plate boundary could shift, the most likely path the African plate will take is eventually crushing the Mediterranean Sea fully.

There area also a few issues with Africa moving southward. The plate's southern boundary is composed of divergent plate boundaries, which means that Africa is bordered by new, light, and warm oceanic plates that are quite resistant to subduction. While given enough time, those plates will cool enough that Africa may form a subduction plate down there, but there may not be enough time for Africa to avoid colliding with Europe.

While I admit I would love to read the paper where it said that the collision with Europe would happen in 45 million years, as far as I know, Africa is moving northeast at a rate of 2.85 cm per year, and if we do rough math to figure out a possible point of collision, that means Africa will probably begin cutting off the Mediterranean and forming an orogeny in less than 10 million years. Not a great amount of time for Africa to reverse its direction.

EDIT: At a certain point though, you can start making it up. But at least for the next few millions of years, I think it's fairly likely that Africa will just keep going north east.
Edited by whachamacallit2, Nov 22 2017, 01:00 PM.
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LittleLazyLass
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Of importance, the drying of the Mediterranean is just as tied to sea level changes as it is to continental drift. Freeze enough additional water at the poles, the straights close and it dries up (and not for the first time, see picture below); melt the poles instead, and you delay the inevitable. It's a mix of both factors, climatic and geological, that will decide what the Mediterranean looks like in the future - this is why The Future is Wild has a dry Mediterranean in only five million years.

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From wikipedia, the Miocene dried up basin at its most extreme. Causes for this desiccation are apparently complicated and not fully understood.
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