WATCH: 1.8 Billion Years of Tectonic Plate Movements In New Animation

Researchers in China and Australia have created an animation that details Earth's tectonic movements over the past 1.8 billion years. In just over a minute, the video offers a mesmerizing look at how the planet's land masses have morphed over time.

The video moves in reverse chronological order, beginning with the flattened map of Earth most of us have known since childhood. At about 25 million years per second, the animation ticks through the planet's tectonic shifts. India detaches from the rest of Southeast Asia; Greenland becomes sandwiched between continental North America and continental Europe. Then, before you know it, most of Earth's land squishes into one large mass as Southeast Asia and Russia break off to do their own thing. By the end of the one-minute-and-twelve-second video, you've seen 40% of Earth's geological history, and the planet bears wispy strands of land ...