Sep 11, 2020 12:21 AM
The 'Uplift of the Tibetan Plateau' Myth
https://scienceblogs.com/sb-admin/2020/0...yth-151449
INTRO: 'The uplift of the Tibetan Plateau' is invoked to explain various phenomena, from monsoon dynamics to biodiversity evolution and everything in between. It's not accurate, finds a new paper... (MORE)
How do stone torests get their spikes? New research offers pointed answer
https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publicati...point.html
RELEASE: Stone forests -- pointed rock formations resembling trees that populate regions of China, Madagascar, and many other locations worldwide -- are as majestic as they are mysterious, created by uncertain forces that give them their shape.
A team of scientists has now shed new light on how these natural structures are created. Its research, reported in the latest issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), also offers promise for the manufacturing of sharp-tipped structures, such as the micro-needles and probes needed for scientific research and medical procedures.
“This work reveals a mechanism that explains how these sharply pointed rock spires, a source of wonder for centuries, come to be,” says Leif Ristroph, an associate professor at New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences and one of the paper’s co-authors. “Through a series of simulations and experiments, we show how flowing water carves ultra-sharp spikes in landforms.”
Here, the scientists replicated the formation of these natural structures by creating sugar-based pinnacles, mimicking soluble rocks that compose karst and similar topographies, and submerging them in tanks of water. Interestingly, no flows had to be imposed, since the dissolving process itself created the flow patterns needed to carve spikes. The experimental results reflected those of the simulations, thereby supporting the accuracy of the researchers’ model. The authors speculate that these same events happen -- albeit far more slowly -- when minerals are submerged under water, which later recedes to reveal stone pinnacles and stone forests.
The paper’s other co-authors included Jinzi Mac Huang, an NYU doctoral student at the time of the research, and Joshua Tong, an NYU undergraduate at the time of the study. Download videos and images of the study here (credit: NYU’s Applied Mathematics Lab): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1...sp=sharing
This video shows an experiment in which a dissolving block of candy develops into an array of sharp spikes. The block starts out with internal pores and is entirely immersed under water, where it dissolves and becomes a “candy forest” before collapsing. Courtesy of NYU’s Applied Mathematics Lab.
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/sgbX-NeU-C4
https://scienceblogs.com/sb-admin/2020/0...yth-151449
INTRO: 'The uplift of the Tibetan Plateau' is invoked to explain various phenomena, from monsoon dynamics to biodiversity evolution and everything in between. It's not accurate, finds a new paper... (MORE)
How do stone torests get their spikes? New research offers pointed answer
https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publicati...point.html
RELEASE: Stone forests -- pointed rock formations resembling trees that populate regions of China, Madagascar, and many other locations worldwide -- are as majestic as they are mysterious, created by uncertain forces that give them their shape.
A team of scientists has now shed new light on how these natural structures are created. Its research, reported in the latest issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), also offers promise for the manufacturing of sharp-tipped structures, such as the micro-needles and probes needed for scientific research and medical procedures.
“This work reveals a mechanism that explains how these sharply pointed rock spires, a source of wonder for centuries, come to be,” says Leif Ristroph, an associate professor at New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences and one of the paper’s co-authors. “Through a series of simulations and experiments, we show how flowing water carves ultra-sharp spikes in landforms.”
Here, the scientists replicated the formation of these natural structures by creating sugar-based pinnacles, mimicking soluble rocks that compose karst and similar topographies, and submerging them in tanks of water. Interestingly, no flows had to be imposed, since the dissolving process itself created the flow patterns needed to carve spikes. The experimental results reflected those of the simulations, thereby supporting the accuracy of the researchers’ model. The authors speculate that these same events happen -- albeit far more slowly -- when minerals are submerged under water, which later recedes to reveal stone pinnacles and stone forests.
The paper’s other co-authors included Jinzi Mac Huang, an NYU doctoral student at the time of the research, and Joshua Tong, an NYU undergraduate at the time of the study. Download videos and images of the study here (credit: NYU’s Applied Mathematics Lab): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1...sp=sharing
This video shows an experiment in which a dissolving block of candy develops into an array of sharp spikes. The block starts out with internal pores and is entirely immersed under water, where it dissolves and becomes a “candy forest” before collapsing. Courtesy of NYU’s Applied Mathematics Lab.