After the planet's interior cooled for some 400 million years, tectonic plates began shifting and sinking. This process was stop-and-go for about 2 billion years. ... In another 5 billion years or so, as the planet chills, plate tectonics will grind to a halt.

Is it possible for tectonic plates to stop moving?

For tectonic plates to stop moving, the Earth's mantle will have to be too cold for convection to occur. If that were to happen, then it means the Earth's outer core has likely solidified. ... On one hand, if heat can't reach the mantle or Earth's crust, then the whole planet might freeze.

How long will tectonic plates continue to move?

Every so often they come together and combine into a supercontinent, which remains for a few hundred million years before breaking up. The plates then disperse or scatter and move away from each other, until they eventually – after another 400-600 million years – come back together again.