The Pacific Is Destined to Vanish as Earth's Continents Meld Into a New Supercontinent - ScienceAlert

Not all scientists agree on what the next supercontinent will look like or how it will form, but in many simulations, the Pacific Ocean is doomed.

While some studies suggest the Atlantic Ocean, which is expanding today, might start to shrink in the future, thereby creating a supercontinent ringed by a super Pacific ocean, researchers at Curtin University disagree.

"By simulating how the Earth's tectonic plates are expected to evolve using a supercomputer, we were able to show that in less than 300 million years' time it is likely to be the Pacific Ocean that will close, allowing for the formation of Amasia, debunking some previous scientific theories.".

Contrary to some other supercontinent simulations, this new one suggests the Pacific Ocean, and not the Atlantic Ocean or Caribbean Sea, will be destroyed when Amasia forms.

In another supercontinent scenario, called Aurica, both the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans close for good, and a new ocean basin arises in their stead.