In recent years, when I explained how we make reconstructions of paleogeography from modern mountain ranges, I was sometimes asked if we could also predict future mountains. Predicting the architecture of future mountain ranges would require formulating a set of "rules of mountain building", which had not been done before. The resulting mountain range, which we called the "Somalaya mountains", might be the Himalayas of their day. Thought experiments like our look at the Somalayas help us to realize what we overlook when reconstructing the history of the Earth's plates and surface. The better those reconstructions, the better we will predict Earth's history and behaviour, its resources, and the effects of using them.

Source: The North Africa Journal December 25, 2021 19:12 UTC