Mind-bending video of Earth shows how countries moved over 1.8 billion years – spot your hometown when US touched Africa

A GROUNDBREAKING new model has shown how present-day countries formed as land rearranged itself nearly 2 billion years ago.

The scientific theory of plate tectonics strives to explain how mountains, volcanoes , and landmasses formed on Earth.

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The planet’s surface is split into fragments called plates that move together or lurch apart.

Their collisions form mountains, while the space that opens up between them swells with water, creating oceans. Earthquakes also occur along fault lines where tectonic plates touch and grind together.

An international team of researchers used information from the rocks on our planet’s surface to track the movement of land over the last 1.8 billion years.

The work was published in Geoscience Frontiers last month, and it includes a video outlining the findings.

The clip opens with a map of the world and the seven continents we know today. Then India moves south, followed by parts of Southeast Asia, to form a landmass known as Gondwana.

This ancient continent connected with present-day North America , Europe , and northern Asia 200 million years ago.

This was during the Triassic period, best known as the era when large reptiles dominated, and dinosaurs later emerged.

The junction of landmasses created a supercontinent called Pangaea. Its name comes from the Greek pan, or “all,” and gaea, meaning “earth.”

Pangaea and Gondwana were themselves formed from plate collisions. As time backtracks, an earlier supercontinent called Rodinia materializes.

Rodinia was created when an older supercontinent, Nuna, splintered around 1.35 billion years ago.

Plate tectonics do more than mold the planet’s landscape.

They also nudge rocks to the surface from deep inside the Earth , allowing previously trapped elements to erode and wash into bodies of water.

One example is phosphorus, a mineral that forms the molecular backbone of DNA , providing structural support and energy for synthesis.

Another element, mancient continent connected with present-day North America , Europe , and northern Asia some 200 million years ago.olybdenum, binds to enzymes in the body to facilitate the breakdown of certain amino acids – commonly called the “building blocks of life.”

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Mapping archaic plate tectonics is the first step towards building a complete model of Earth’s history .

Such a model will allow scientists to test hypotheses about Earth’s past, including its dramatic fluctuations in climate and the way nutrients became available as life evolved.

Animal and plant cells are unique because they boast a nucleus, a membrane-bound organelle that contains nearly all of the cell’s DNA.

The first evidence for complex cells with nuclei can be traced to 1.65 billion years ago, close to when Nuna originated.

The researchers intend to test whether the mountains that grew during Nuna’s formation may have given rise to these elements, stoking evolution.

A timeline of life on Earth

The history of the planet in years...

• 4.6 billion years ago – the origin of Earth
• 3.8 billion years ago – first life appears on Earth
• 2.1 billion years ago – lifeforms made up of multiple cells evolve
• 1.5 billion years ago – eukaryotes, which are cells that contain a nucleus inside of their membranes, emerge
• 550 million years ago – first arthropods evolve
• 530 million years ago – first fish appear
• 470 million years ago – first land plants appear
• 380 million years ago – forests emerge on Earth
• 370 million years ago – first amphibians emerge from the water onto land
• 320 million years ago – earliest reptiles evolve
• 230 million years ago – dinosaurs evolve
• 200 million years ago – mammals appear
• 150 million years ago – earliest birds evolve
• 130 million years ago – first flowering plants
• 100 million years ago – earliest bees
• 55 million years ago – hares and rabbits appear
• 30 million years ago – first cats evolve
• 20 million years ago – great apes evolve
• 7 million years ago –first human ancestors appear
• 2 million years ago – Homo erectus appears
• 300,000 years ago – Homo sapiens evolves
• 50,000 years ago – Eurasia and Oceania colonised
• 40,000 years ago – Neandethal extinction

The team believes this attempt at mapping the last 1.8 billion years on Earth already furthers our understanding of the world.

But even more mysteries are waiting to be unlocked.

“We suggest that the model can serve as a valuable working hypothesis, laying the groundwork for future hypothesis testing,” the authors wrote.