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Ever since this important time in history, the Atlantic Ocean has expanded, and it continues to grow. But maybe its expansion isn't inevitable?
Around 175 million years ago, the Atlantic Ocean formed in the rift between the continents that occurred when supercontinent Pangaea broke up.
It might be difficult to imagine, but South America, Africa, India, Antarctica, and Australia were once all part of the same giant landmass.
Knowing how the Arc was formed also means that scientists can model its evolution over time. According to their research, things will change in the Gibraltar Arc.
Advances in technology have allowed modeling of the Gibraltar Arc to take place. Now, scientists claim that they're able to simulate its formation.
By contrast, the Pacific Ocean is shrinking. The Pacific "Ring of Fire" is a consequence of the Pacific plate, which is being pushed beneath other plates in a process called subduction.
A new map that examined the sea floor off the coast of Iberia—the region of Europe where Spain and Portugal are found—shows a subduction zone is developing.
As the Pacific plate is subducted, volcanic land closes in on the ocean. Could a similar fate await the Atlantic Ocean, too?
This process is subduction initiation. Then, when subduction from one ocean migrates into a growing ocean, it's referred to as subduction invasion.
That zone comprised a crack forming in the Eurasian plate, creating a fracture on the ocean floor.
The findings about the Gibraltar Arc have implications not just for the Atlantic Ocean, but also for the Mediterranean region's susceptibility to earthquakes.
It's not the first time researchers have found something in the area. Back in 2013, a potential subduction zone was discovered in the Atlantic Ocean about 120 miles (200 km) off the southwest coast of Portugal.
The places where subduction occurs are usually the cause of the most powerful earthquakes. Lisbon's 1755 earthquake was the strongest one ever recorded along Europe's Atlantic coast.
A new study examines just that. What does it mean? Well, the future, the Atlantic could have its own "Ring of Fire."
Published in Geology, the 2024 study finds there is an existing a subduction zone invading the Atlantic, located in Gibraltar at the edge of the Mediterranean Sea.
The Mediterranean Sea is a closing basin. This means that the oceanic plate is being subducted beneath the continental plates of Europe and Africa.
The Gibraltar Arc was thought to be dormant, but the authors of this new study claim it's active. Gibraltar is located at the southernmost tip of the Iberian Peninsula.
The Atlantic has two other subduction zones, one in the Scotia Sea off Antarctica, while the other, the Lesser Antilles, is in the Caribbean.
Both of these subduction zones formed several million years ago. Subduction zones don't form spontaneously: extremely strong tectonic plates must bend and break.
Over billions of years, oceans follow what's called the Wilson cycle. At the beginning of this cycle, a continent breaks up and an ocean forms in the interior. The ocean grows as continents drift further apart.
The turning point in the Wilson cycle is when subduction initiation begins. At this point, the ocean begins to shrink until the continents at its edges collide.
We can think of subduction zones as signs of aging in the ocean. In this case, with more subduction zones, the Atlantic Ocean is beginning to show greater signs of aging.
A researcher for the 2024 study, João Duarte, believes the "dying" Mediterranean Sea is to blame for the emergence of tectonic activity in the Gibraltar Arc.
The Mediterranean may have "caught" subduction from an ancient ocean that will produce cracks, eventually leading to a fault in the lithospheric plate.
When tectonic plates move, continents shift. This leads to the degradation of the ocean: in this case, the Atlantic.
If Duarte's calculations are correct, the premature death of the ocean could occur in 220 million years. In other words, that's still quite a long way off!
When this occurs, Europe and America will unite. The entire Atlantic Ocean will disappear off the face of the earth, forever.
However, while Duarte's theory was received well by many, other scientists disagreed with this apocalyptic outlook on the Atlantic's future.
Some geologists argue a lot more research is needed, and that it's too early to say if plate activity could lead to the demise of the Atlantic.
Sources: (Geology In) (GeoScienceWorld) (Cosmos Magazine) (National Geographic)
Our global landscape, separated by oceans as we know it today, wasn't always so. Distinct continents are a more recent phenomenon, because way back when the Earth's landmass belonged to one big supercontinent called Pangaea (or Pangea). You might vaguely remember something about it from geography class, but, as a refresher, Pangaea broke up around 175 million years ago, in the Middle Jurassic period. What happened? Tectonic activity, i.e. the Earth's plates moving and shifting to form the world's oceans. But as our climate changes and plate movement picks up, could we be in danger of the reverse occurring, with the disappearance of the Atlantic Ocean a possibility?
Click on to discover the odds of the Atlantic Ocean becoming a distant memory.
Scientist warns of changes in the Atlantic Ocean
Time will tell
LIFESTYLE Water bodies
Our global landscape, separated by oceans as we know it today, wasn't always so. Distinct continents are a more recent phenomenon, because way back when the Earth's landmass belonged to one big supercontinent called Pangaea (or Pangea). You might vaguely remember something about it from geography class, but, as a refresher, Pangaea broke up around 175 million years ago, in the Middle Jurassic period. What happened? Tectonic activity, i.e. the Earth's plates moving and shifting to form the world's oceans. But as our climate changes and plate movement picks up, could we be in danger of the reverse occurring, with the disappearance of the Atlantic Ocean a possibility?
Click on to discover the odds of the Atlantic Ocean becoming a distant memory.