It’s been estimated that in all of Earth’s history, there have been 7 supercontinents, with the most recent one being Pangaea.
The next supercontinent (Pangaea Ultima) is expected to form in around 250 million years.
Why is this the case? What phenomenon causes these giant landmasses to coalesce, break apart, then coalesce again?
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Plate tectonics. Imagine that you have a pan full of sandy mud, some gravel and some fairly big stones. If you just randomly swish them all around in the pan they’re going to clump up then if you shake the pan some more they’re going to eventually break apart and swish around again for a while until they clump up again in a different way. That’s what the continents do, just in a much slower more natural and beautifully balanced way.
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