The grey nomads of the world could be about to unite … literally. Well, in 50-200 million years time at least.
A new Yale University report predicts that America and Eurasia will eventually crash into each other over the north pole, with Australia and Africa also joining the new ‘supercontinent’.
It could mean that the legendary Nullarbor crossing will become a proverbial stroll in the park for our grey nomad descendants. It is a trip from Perth to New York or a jaunt from Sydney to Stonehenge that will really get them servicing their rigs, kicking their tyres, and double checking their fuel budget.
Geologists believe that, over billions of years, shifting plates have periodically driven the continents together, creating the hypothesised supercontinents of Nuna 1.8 billion years ago, Rodinia a billion years ago, and then Pangaea 300 million years ago.
The next supercontinent has already been given the working title of Amasia. The Yale prediction is based on analysis of magnetic data locked into rocks around the world which betray the magnetic orientation of those rocks in past ages.
