this post was submitted on 26 Apr 2024

482 points (97.3% liked)

Science Memes

11148 readers

1919 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.

Rules

Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
Keep it rooted (on topic).
No spam.
Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.

Research Committee

[email protected]

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

482

Dank projection, bro. (mander.xyz)

submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

70 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 36 points 7 months ago (1 children)

For now. It used to a few million years ago and will again in another few million.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (5 children)

Are you referring to the magnetic pole switch? That happens every 200-1M years, according to patterns on the seafloor. It’s been estimated that the last reversal was 780,000 years ago, so it theoretically could be any day now.

With that being said, I doubt that humanity will agree to turn all maps 180° to correspond.

[–] pacmondo 23 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I thought they were referring to the fact that under the ice its an archipelago, so if the ice melts it will have southern coasts again

[–] [email protected] 12 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Valid point. It’s a shame humanity wouldn’t be around to confirm. lol

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

If it melts, they'd all be northern coasts.

It's referencing the pole swap.

[–] TheLorax 5 points 7 months ago

Since it's an archipelago underneath then most, if not all, of those islands would have a southern coast. The only way to not have a southern coast is to have the landmass directly on top of the pole, which could only happen for one island (if no ice is present)

[–] [email protected] 16 points 7 months ago (1 children)

the continental plate also migrates

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

At the rate of 1 CM/year

[+] [email protected] -1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

[deleted]

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

same order of magnitude. also you seem to be implying the other continents are completely stationary

[–] [email protected] 12 points 7 months ago

I was referring to continental drift. Places move a lot in under 200 million years. Eg https://youtu.be/uLahVJNnoZ4

So my post was a bit sarcastic that eventually it will have a coast but not on any time frame to matter to the human species. :)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Laschamp event! I just edited a related wiki page on late Pleistocene extinctions. Spoiler alert: it didn't kill the megafauna.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Just flip it over lol