The Next Supercontinent

“This lovely book, though, is a story of how quickly we are changing what it is we know, how we think, and how we think about how we think. And what it is we value most. None of our descendants will survive long enough to see any practical effects of tectonic change. The reshaping of the continents will not matter to our species. We will not be there. We are not an especially careful mammal. If we are lucky, maybe we have a million years to go, maybe even two. But this book is not about that. It is ultimately about science, as the new religion of our times, and how we think of eternity. It is about us, and what we are becoming.” – Danny Dorling * Resurgence & Ecologist *“Although Mitchell’s destination is the distant future, don’t be fooled. His book is as much a romp through the past as it is a look ahead, complete with references unique to the present….Throughout the book, Mitchell’s clear explanations and carefully chosen images help make sense of even the most complicated concepts.” * Science News *“Locked in rocks, mountains, and oceans lies evidence of an ancient, active earth. Subduction, plate tectonics, and volcanic activity continually reshape continents… . [Those] interested in geology and geophysics will appreciate Mitchell’s compelling vision and research.” * Booklist *“Ross Mitchell provides a cinematic view of Earth over billion-year timescales, showing how the slow-motion dance of the continents has a deep underlying logic that makes it possible to predict geographies of the distant future.” – Marcia Bjornerud | author of “Timefulness: How Thinking Like a Geologist Can Help Save the World”“Geological puzzles don’t get bigger than unravelling the choreography of continents since Earth’s childhood. It takes bold thinking, and reconciliation of hard-won field data with computer models of our planet’s interior, to figure out the lay of the land hundreds of millions of years ago. Ross Mitchell draws on his own cutting-edge research to explain how Earth’s heat engine works, and what ancient configurations of land and sea—vastly different from today’s map—meant for the atmosphere, climate and, crucially, the evolution of life. It’s a gripping story, vivaciously told, of prescient scientists, perilous fieldwork, and the amazing ways in which geology empowers us to situate humanity in the context of billions of years of Earth history, and to ground speculation of how the next billion might play out.” – Clive Oppenheimer | author of “Eruptions that Shook the World”“Mitchell is the only person who could write this inviting and engaging book, which shares the thrill of scientific discovery.” – Brendan Murphy | St. Francis Xavier University“The world is like a giant clock, with enormous tectonic gears of seemingly infinite complexity. That clock will keep ticking long after we humans are extinct, and Ross Mitchell, watchmaker, lets us see far into that future: an amazing Amasia.” – Peter Ward | author of “Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe”“A clear, accessible introduction to a ‘super’ significant topic—the supercontinent cycle—and to scientific study itself.” – Richard E. Ernst | Carleton University“An engaging insider’s story of geological discovery and insight at a grand scale—the unification and fragmentation of supercontinents over geologic time, and why such behavior is repeating, yet changing. This first-hand account reads like The Double Helix, but with mountains for molecules.” – Paul Hoffman | Harvard University

Ross Mitchell is professor at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. His supercontinent research has been covered by outlets including the New York Times, Scientific American, NPR Science Friday, and Science.