Posted on 01/31/2010 6:41:28 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Fun fact for you: scientists don't really know how the Himalayas formed. I mean yeah, they realize that the India tectonic plate is slamming into the Eurasia plate and has been for about 50 million years, but the mystery is why the mountain range is still growing. Usually when two continents collide it's like a car wreck -- there may be a bunch of mangled crust in the middle (mountains), but both vehicles stop moving. Turns out, India appears to be sinking into the mantle. A new study based on computer models of the two plates shows that the formation and continued growth of the world's highest mountain range makes the most sense if a dense piece of India is down in the mantle, dragging the rest of the continent down with it. That may not sound so weird but continents are buoyant; they're supposed to float, not sink. All the subduction you hear about all over the world is dense ocean crust sinking underneath continents. Except in the Himalayas. It's as though two cars collided, and one started to sink into the pavement. Notice how India seems to float magically into Eurasia, and then just keeping going. But why? Why would a continent willingly flatten itself against another continent? Doesn't make sense. That's the big problem with the old idea.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.discovery.com ...
There’s an immense amount about plate tectonics that’s still a mystery. It’s a very young science and it doesn’t explain many observed geological features/phenomena. While it has revolutionized geology it’s still in its infancy as a field of study.
Not being Canadian, I have no idea.
Good one!
He needs to call a World Conference and pass a law limiting only 1/2 of India be permitted to sink into the mantle!
Somehow we must be the cause of Global Colliding. Stop technology now!! We are causing this Continent Change!!
Al Gore, FLY to the Himalayas to save the cashmere goats!!!! It’s all OUR “fault!” Hurry! Get your cameras and go!!
The extra heat is causing more rocks to melt, softening the larger Eurasian plate into a puddle, allowing the dagger-shaped Indo-Australian plate to cut through it like a hot knife into butter.
There’s more curry in Britain, than in all of India.
Here I thought the science was settled, the debate was over, nothing more to see, all that is knowable is now known about plate tectonics.
The fact is, we really don’t know jack about anything, and are only scratching the surface and that is how it will always be. The arrogance of so many scientists is mind boggling, with Richard Dawkins being the poster boy for that arrogance. I would include al gore too but he is no scientist, never has been, and never will be.
Hmmm. India sinking into the earth’s core while the rest of the planet is still floating. Didn’t we hear speculation last year about the big atom smasher in Europe leading to a small black hole deep in the earth?
Maybe there really is a Black Hole of Calcutta.
Re-unite Gondwanaland!!!
I think you could extend that comment to most of our species. We live on the wrinkled and dynamic surface of a piece of water and rock that's hurtling through an unknown void at unimaginable speed. At any moment the ground we walk and build on can burp molten rock or shimmy with Richter force, destroying us and all our creations. We don't even know where we are yet we endlessly propose universal "solutions" for all things.
The Greeks called it hubris.
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