Seismic tomography and continental drift

Based on data of seismic tomography, the structure of the mantle flows of the contemporary Earth and the continental drift are calculated. Results of calculation of the contemporary motion of continents and their future drift for 150 Myr are presented. The present-day positions of six continents and the nine largest islands are taken as an initial state. The contemporary temperature distribution in the mantle is calculated according to the data of seismic tomography. The 3-D distribution of seismic wave velocities is converted into the density distribution and then into the temperature distribution. The Stokes equation is numerically solved for flows in a viscous mantle with floating continents for the given initial temperature distribution. In this way, the velocities of convective flows are determined in the entire present-day mantle and the surface distribution for the Earth’s heat flux is obtained. The reliability of the calculated flows in the mantle is estimated by the comparison of the calculated velocities of the contemporary continents and oceanic lithosphere with data of satellite measurements. Further, evolutionary equations of convection with floating continents were numerically solved. The calculated structure of mantle flows, temperature distribution, and position of continents are presented for a time moment 150 Myr in the future. The resulting successive changes in the position of continents in time show how islands (in particular, Japan and Indonesia) will be attached to continents and how continents will converge, exhibiting a tendency toward the formation of a new supercontinent in the southern hemisphere of the Earth.