Question: If the continents contunie swaying in their present speed, will it cause a problem, a disaster for the world in the near future?

Asked by dogan7a to Daniel on 9 Mar 2015.

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  1. Photo: Daniel Pastor-GalánDaniel Pastor-Galán
    answered on 9 Mar 2015:

    Hi dogan7a!

    The speed of the continents (to be strict “plates”) it is, at human scales, slow. The quickest are moving at 19 cm per year. Typical plate motion is 2-5 cm per year.

    As you probably know lot’s of geohazards depend on this motion, for instance earthquakes and volcanoes. This is the typical effects that you can expect from continent motion. However if you are thinking in a disaster as the described in José Saramago’s book “The Stone Raft” in which continents accelearate and get together causing all kinds of problems. It is just fiction. The map of the Earth won’t change in shape in the next millenniums based on tectonic motions. If I were you I would be definitely more scared about global warming than plates 🙂

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