Date Time A Central African Shield Amalgamation Tale The Earth has a 4.6-billion-year history; since about 1.9 billion years ago, it has been punctuated by a quasi-cyclic formation and break up of supercontinents – large landmasses that comprised the majority of the Earth’s continental crust. The formation and disruption of supercontinents had great impact on the environment, climate and possibly Earth’s interior. Reconstructing the processes of amalgamation and disruption of these supercontinents is crucial to our understanding of plate tectonics, plate motion, thermal balance of the Earth, and long-term environmental changes. There is a large consensus that around 200 million years from now the Earth will form another supercontinent, possibly centered in present day Asia.