<p>The reason that you have not seen any diagram showing the position of the continents 10K years before present (ybp) is that the plates move so slowly that there would not be a perceptual difference on the scale of a world map. The Atlantic is <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2007GC001743" rel="noreferrer">spreading</a> about a half centimeter per year. So 10,000 years will have moved Europe away from North America by 5000 cm, or 50 meters.</p>

<p>An additional reason is that most models of continental drift have the sub-oceanic magnetic banding due to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_reversal" rel="noreferrer">geomagnetic reversals</a> as their guide for "recent" positions of the plates.  The latest geomagnetic reversal, the Brunhes–Matuyama reversal, occurred 780K ybp.  This is long before your 10K ybp point of interest and so any interpolated data would be suspect.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-21T17:55:14.543Z
Though you would see some changes in the continental outlines, due to sea level changes.  Maps are easily found on-line.
jamesqf
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-21T05:45:51.490Z
2020-05-21T05:45:51.490Z
verisimilidude
<p>In many articles online, geologists and geographers have described and depicted the theorized locations of all our continental plates with great detail and illustration, providing pictures, time-lapse videos, etc. as per Wegener's theory. But nowhere have I found online any article, paper, illustration, picture, or even a single comment, mention, or note talking about our continents' positions 10000 years ago, AKA, when the last ice age was just getting over. So please can someone answer this?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-21T04:57:33.373Z
in 10 000 years the european and the american plates has moved about 250 meters(2,5 cm year)
trond hansen
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-21T05:03:25.363Z
related https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/13171/what-would-it-be-like-to-live-in-an-ice-age
trond hansen
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-21T11:03:44.327Z
Minor aside: Plate tectonics and Wegener's continental drift are not the same thing.
David Hammen
<geology><plate-tectonics><crust><continent>
What was the Earth's continent's positions 10000 years ago, or 11700 years ago, AKA when the late Pleistocene epoch was coming to an end?
Vineet Pande
# What was the Earth's continent's positions 10000 years ago, or 11700 years ago, AKA when the late Pleistocene epoch was coming to an end?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-05-21)

In many articles online, geologists and geographers have described and depicted the theorized locations of all our continental plates with great detail and illustration, providing pictures, time-lapse videos, etc. as per Wegener's theory. But nowhere have I found online any article, paper, illustration, picture, or even a single comment, mention, or note talking about our continents' positions 10000 years ago, AKA, when the last ice age was just getting over. So please can someone answer this?

**Tags:** geology, plate-tectonics, crust, continent

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: in 10 000 years the european and the american plates has moved about 250 meters(2,5 cm year)  
> **username_1**: related https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/13171/what-would-it-be-like-to-live-in-an-ice-age  
> **username_2**: Minor aside: Plate tectonics and Wegener's continental drift are not the same thing.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2020-05-21. Score: 7 | Accepted answer

The reason that you have not seen any diagram showing the position of the continents 10K years before present (ybp) is that the plates move so slowly that there would not be a perceptual difference on the scale of a world map. The Atlantic is [spreading](https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2007GC001743) about a half centimeter per year. So 10,000 years will have moved Europe away from North America by 5000 cm, or 50 meters.

An additional reason is that most models of continental drift have the sub-oceanic magnetic banding due to [geomagnetic reversals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_reversal) as their guide for "recent" positions of the plates. The latest geomagnetic reversal, the Brunhes–Matuyama reversal, occurred 780K ybp. This is long before your 10K ybp point of interest and so any interpolated data would be suspect.

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: Though you would see some changes in the continental outlines, due to sea level changes.  Maps are easily found on-line.  

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