Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Researchers explain mystery of India's rapid move toward Eurasia 80 million years ago

#1
C C Offline
http://phys.org/news/2015-05-mystery-ind...llion.html

EXCERPT: In the history of continental drift, India has been a mysterious record-holder. More than 140 million years ago, India was part of an immense supercontinent called Gondwana, which covered much of the Southern Hemisphere. Around 120 million years ago, what is now India broke off and started slowly migrating north, at about 5 centimeters per year. Then, about 80 million years ago, the continent suddenly sped up, racing north at about 15 centimeters per year—about twice as fast as the fastest modern tectonic drift. The continent collided with Eurasia about 50 million years ago, giving rise to the Himalayas.

[...] "When you look at simulations of Gondwana breaking up, the plates kind of start to move, and then India comes slowly off of Antarctica, and suddenly it just zooms across—it's very dramatic," [Leigh] Royden says.

[...] For years, scientists have struggled to explain how India could have drifted northward so quickly. Now geologists at MIT have offered up an answer: India was pulled northward by the combination of two subduction zones—regions in the Earth's mantle where the edge of one tectonic plate sinks under another plate. As one plate sinks, it pulls along any connected landmasses. The geologists reasoned that two such sinking plates would provide twice the pulling power, doubling India's drift velocity.

[...] "In earth science, it's hard to be completely sure of anything," says Leigh Royden, a professor of geology and geophysics in MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. "But there are so many pieces of evidence that all fit together here that we're pretty convinced."...
Reply


Possibly Related Threads…
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  Research A supervolcano erupted 74,000 years ago. Here’s how humans survived it. C C 0 24 Mar 21, 2024 06:32 PM
Last Post: C C
  Article 5.3 million years ago, the world’s largest flood refilled the Mediterranean C C 0 80 May 7, 2023 10:44 PM
Last Post: C C
  A tsunami wiped out ancient communities in the Atacama Desert 3,800 years ago C C 0 64 Apr 8, 2022 07:09 PM
Last Post: C C
  (mineral deposits) Were worms pooping silver 500 million years ago? C C 0 61 Dec 30, 2021 07:19 AM
Last Post: C C
  Ice needles explain stone patterns + Earth tipped on its side 84 million years ago C C 0 89 Oct 20, 2021 06:44 PM
Last Post: C C
  Humans spared worst of volcanic supereruption 74,000 Years Ago C C 0 92 Jul 6, 2021 04:24 PM
Last Post: C C
  Earth’s oldest minerals date onset of plate tectonics to 3.6 billion years ago C C 0 100 May 18, 2021 02:20 AM
Last Post: C C
  “The larch … the larch” + Carbon-14 spiked worldwide over 1200 years ago C C 0 134 Apr 3, 2020 10:18 PM
Last Post: C C
  Ancient, massive asteroid impact could explain Martian geological mysteries C C 0 423 Jul 20, 2017 11:28 PM
Last Post: C C
  Earth was barren, flat and almost entirely under water 4.4 billion years ago C C 0 301 May 9, 2017 10:02 PM
Last Post: C C



Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)