Oh jesus......now I know I said I was gone, but I just came back to read a few topics and I have to comment on this, just because that's me.
No no no no no no no no no no no no no no..........no
The Atlantic Ocean has a rift zone at the mid-Atlantic ridge, which is pushing the Americas and Eurasia/Africa apart. It is a physical impossibility for the link's picture to happen again. That picture is basically what had occurred in the original Pangaea.
So what will the 'next' Pangaea look like?
Well, instead of there being a gigantic Pacific Ocean, there will be a gigantic Atlantic Ocean....and the physics of which would be completely different unless the rift tears itself apart, forming a new Atlantic Plate.
This is the main problem in Scotese's theory...as he theorizes that a subduction zone on the west side will pull the Americas back towards Eurasia/Africa, which instead, the subduction zone just pushes mountains up in E North America (Appalachians II) and continues to push it westward.
The Pacific Plate is currently subducting under the NW part of the North American Plate, which does include a large portion of extreme Eastern Siberia. It is also subducting under the Eurasian and Philippine plates...so eventually, the Pacific Ocean/Plate will disappear, which will lead to the northern North American plate slipping north of the Eurasian plate, while the southern part of the North American plate collides with Japan, China, and perhaps the Phillippines. Meanwhile, the South American Plate is moving away from Africa in a WSWly direction. This will lead to it heading south of Australia as Australia collides into Eurasia, as India similarly did. Eventually, South America will have moved nearly entirely across the world, however, it will have caught momentum by scraping the Australian and Eurasian plates to begin a NW movement, then it will collide into Eurasia/Africa, while Antarctica moves northward towards Africa as well. Meanwhile, we cannot forget the major rift zones in East Africa (which will lead to Somalia/Ethiopia/East Africa breaking from Africa, heading eastward towards Australia) and the one in the Western US. However, the one in the Western US has stopped rifting, but it may just be temporary. Eventually, it could lead to areas west of the continental divide breaking off and heading westward towards the Phillippines.
I hope this clears that up.
