The Next Supercontinent: Solving the Puzzle of a Future Pangea

by Ross Mitchell

An internationally recognized scientist shows that Earth’s separate continents, once together in Pangea, are again on a collision course. You’ve heard of Pangea, the single landmass that broke apart some 175 million years ago to give us our current continents, but what about its predecessors, Rodinia or Columbia? These “supercontinents” from Earth’s past provide evidence that land repeatedly joins and separates. While scientists debate what that next supercontinent will look like—and what to name it—they all one is coming. In this engaging work, geophysicist Ross Mitchell invites readers to remote (and sometimes treacherous) lands for evidence of past supercontinents, delves into the phenomena that will birth the next, and presents the case for the future supercontinent of Amasia, defined by the merging of North America and Asia. Introducing readers to plate tectonic theory through fieldwork adventures and accessible scientific descriptions, Mitchell considers flows deep in the Earth’s mantle to explain Amasia’s future formation and shows how this developing theory can illuminate other planetary mysteries. He then poses the inevitable how can humanity survive the intervening 200 million years necessary to see Amasia? An expert on the supercontinent cycle, Mitchell offers readers a front-row seat to a slow-motion mystery and an ongoing scientific debate.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science

304 pages, Hardcover

Published May 24, 2023

Reviews

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book tells the story of Earth's former supercratons and supercontinents, and then finally, at the end, the author talks about the future supercontinent, Amasia. His theory of that future formation is that of orthoversion, based on the 90° orthogonal positioning of the continents around Africa.

Although not a geologist, I enjoy books about earth's history. Because I lack a good science background, I did not understand everything that Ross Mitchell talked about, but he is an entertaining writer, and his personality shines through his writing. I appreciate that he gives credit to other scientists when appropriate.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Long ago, in my misspent youth, I had visions of being a geophysicist. This was the time that plate tectonics was just becoming accepted and I thought it was fabulously interesting. (Also working for the coast and geodetic survey was draft exempt, a meaningful consideration in the late 1960s.) Alas, my career in science foundered on calculus, but geophysics remains an ongoing enthusiasm for me. In fact, I was actually able to understand most of this book, both of how the earth works, and how scientists have learned how it does work. A good read if you are interested in the earth.

[Ana · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's difficult to summarize my thoughts about this book. It certainly included some really fascinating insights into Earth's previous supercontinents and provided a balanced projection for Earth's future. Unfortunately, so much of the content was bogged-down with shifting voices. I felt that the author could not decide who this book's audience was: geologists who brought their own background knowledge to the book, or the average Joe who has only a surface-level understanding of geology? Mitchell would write to his fellow geologists, but then abruptly shift and write in a style more appropriate to non-scientists. This didn't feel cohesive because the narrative wasn't consistent.

Mitchell was a bit full of himself in relaying his personal contributions to supercontinent understanding. I rolled my eyes when he said he didn't even bother to apply to Princeton for his graduate studies. Like yes, who would even want to go to Princeton? /s

Finally, no fault to the author, but I was surprised by the amount of editing errors present in this book. Who proofread this?


Rating system:
1 star: the absolute worst and potentially DNF
2 stars: did not like and forgettable
3 stars: casually liked, not unique, and probably forgettable
4 stars: really liked, might reread
5 stars: phenomenal, will reread, will continue to think about

[Brendan Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Next Supercontinent is a thoroughly engaging and inspiring detective story that showcases how science works. The passion of the author oozes out of every line in every page, as does his insatiable appetite to understand the fundamental processes that have guided Earth’s evolution in order to project into the future.
The book begins with the recognition of gaps in our understanding of how the Earth’s internal engine works, and is followed by relentless and logical pursuit of clues that help to fill these gaps in knowledge. Written in a non-technical manner, and stripped of needless jargon, the author takes readers on a journey of scientific discovery that showcases sleuthing required to facilitate his dogged pursuit of knowledge. The book is suitable for anyone who is curious about the main driving forces that have guided Earth’s evolution and its predictions for the future. It would be particularly inspiring to anyone considering a career in science.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

The strong points of the book are that Ross Mitchell shows how the study of geology works and, indeed, discusses the process of science to a certain degree. I enjoyed the personal anecdotes and Mitchell comes across as a good storyteller and very personable writer. I thought that the maps added great value to the story. But outside of the anecdotes, I did not find the writing compelling and some of the information was over my head as the book turned out to be more technical than I expected. But I feel that people with greater knowledge of geology will love this book. Thank you to Edelweiss and University of Chicago Press for the digital review copy.

[Michael Marshall · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Next Supercontinent is a well-researched account of a fascinating topic, by an expert in the field. It therefore gives me no pleasure to say that it was poorly organised, sometimes confusing, and rather plodding. Readers with a strong interest in geology and related topics, if they can look past the weak writing, will find a lot of interesting material and will learn a lot. But I think that will be the extent of its audience.

[Cat · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5ish, good overview of how supercontinents form, how we know, and how the next one might