interventions: Diary (of Drift)
Africa and Europe are slowly colliding in a process that has lasted for 40m years, pushing up the Alps and Pyrenees along the way. This continental drift will continue long into the future, until 50m years from now when the two continents meet and become one mega-continent: Eurafrica. The Mediterranean will disappear altogether, to be replaced by a mountain range as big as the Himalayas.
The tectonic plates underneath the Earth are constantly moving, dragged around by convection currents in the planet’s mantle. In recent years scientists have gained a good understanding of how continents used to move: they now theorize that multiple super-continents have been created in cycles over the course of Earth’s history. The most recent such landmass, Pangaea, broke up approximately 200m years ago, meaning the Earth is currently in the middle of a cycle.
The Economist August 27, 2018 by S.H.
#continentaldrift
unsanctioned intervention: Palermo, Italy, 2023
materials: acrylic paint, archival ink on arches paper (18 x 24 inches)
