• disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        8 months ago

        To move a continent north of the equator at the rate of 1 CM per year? You might need a bigger napkin.

        Antarctica’s leading coast is 10,000 KM from the equator. Assuming it’s able to continue through Southern Africa at the same rate, it would take 100 billion years to have a northern coast.

        • fogstormberry@lemmy.blahaj.zone
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          8 months ago

          southern or northern coast. I had deleted my comment already because I misread yours, but I had mathed the time to move away from the pole, producing a southern coast. not time to cross the equator

          • disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            8 months ago

            You’re right, that would create a northern coast. That would be closer to 300M years, assuming it can continue to move at the rate of 1 CM/year, straight through Africa. Antarctica is ~4,500 KM across. The leading coast is only 1,287 KM from the South Pole, leaving 3,213 KM of land needed to migrate from the Pacific side. That would take 321,300,000 years.