top of page

Amasia: Earth's Next Super Continent

The next supercontinent is going to be Amasia. It’s what will happen when Asia and America merge, and it’s apparently going to happen in around 200 to 300 million years’ time.


Illustration of Amasia

We know this because researchers at the New Curtin University in Australia used a supercomputer to determine what the world will look like in the future as the tectonic plates slowly shift.


But this isn’t a one off. Over the past two billion years, the Earth's continents have collided to form a supercontinent many times. In what’s known as the supercontinent cycle, every 600 or so million years, it brings all the continents of the world together.


Over 700 million years ago, the last supercontinent started breaking apart and shrinking the Panthalassa super ocean. That ocean that was at its largest when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, and continues to shrink by a few centimeters a year today, although now it is known as the Pacific Ocean.


The ongoing supercontinent cycle means that over the course of the next 200-300 million years, the Pacific Ocean will shrink from its current expanse of thousands of miles and bring the continents of America and Asia together to form Amasia.

 
Flock of migrating birds

bottom of page