Posted on 10/20/2020 9:33:20 PM PDT by BenLurkin
A team of geologists at the University of Houston College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics believes they have found the lost plate in northern Canada by using existing mantle tomography images—similar to a CT scan of the earth's interior. The findings, published in Geological Society of America Bulletin, could help geologists better predict volcanic hazards as well as mineral and hydrocarbon deposits.
"Volcanoes form at plate boundaries, and the more plates you have, the more volcanoes you have," said Jonny Wu, assistant professor of geology in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. "Volcanoes also affect climate change. So, when you are trying to model the earth and understand how climate has changed since time, you really want to know how many volcanoes there have been on earth."
Wu and Spencer Fuston, a third-year geology doctoral student, applied a technique developed by the UH Center for Tectonics and Tomography called slab unfolding to reconstruct what tectonic plates in the Pacific Ocean looked like during the early Cenozoic Era. The rigid outermost shell of Earth, or lithosphere, is broken into tectonic plates and geologists have always known there were two plates in the Pacific Ocean at that time called Kula and Farallon. But there has been discussion about a potential third plate, Resurrection, having formed a special type of volcanic belt along Alaska and Washington State.
Using 3-D mapping technology, Fuston applied the slab unfolding technique to the mantle tomography images to pull out the subducted plates before unfolding and stretching them to their original shapes.
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
Yes, a pufferfish. Also, if I’m not mistaken, the main ingredient in Botox.
Oh. Wait. No. That’s botulinum.
Japanese call the pufferfish “fugu.” There’s also a newt with the same toxin. Fascinating stuff in nature!
If we could figure out how to extract a lot of those toxins, we could eliminate man-made drugs. Nature has an awful lot to offer us in the healing arts, if only we knew how to get it.
One article said that TTX, in diluted form, had been used as something like an anti-seizure medicine in ancient China.
I might actually like Mr. Joe. I doubt it, but I might.
I don’t like President Joe.
OTOH: I liked President Don. But I would probably not like Mr. Don.
I wonder if there’s a pattern there.
If you ask me the strangest and most fascinating thing in nature is in the mirror.
I think it makes more sense to let an octopus suck on some supermodel’s face instead of having a doctor inject it.
Oh, wait, you said that was botulinum.
Oh well. I like the visual anyway.
Optics. Strange stuff. Also makes the violet-backed starling’s colors.
Beautiful kitteh!
Hi, and I hope you’re doing well, too. Broke my leg but it’s healing.
The ancients had all the medicines, especially the Orientals. They were very wise, but when man learned how to replicate the drugs, they saw money in it, and damn the side-effects. So here we are today, re-learning what the ancients knew but the costs are prohibitive for a lot of them. But don’t get me started! ;o]
I’m so sorry you broke your leg, but glad it’s getting better. It’s been only a few years since Bill the Son broke his leg.
I can’t even begin to tell you how much this saddens me, SG. If I could be there to hug you, I most certainly would. All I can do is send prayers your way.
Good morning.
Good morning.
I keep wanting to comment, but I end up getting side-tracked into something else.
My iHerb order came last night, but no one knocked or rang the doorbell, and I didn’t know it was on my doorstep until I checked my email this morning. GAH!
There have been a dozen things since then to distract me, so I’m on FR on a hit-and-miss basis. I’m still not completely dressed, and I don’t know if my feet are cold or not. I suspect they are, but neuropathy and all that...
Anyway, I promise I’ll repent and be better at sticking with it! ;o]
So what has this Saturday got to offer the folks in the Tax-chick household?
I just re-ordered the book boxes from U-Haul, but they won’t ship until Monday, I’m sure. This time, they have the correct address!
Maybe my day will finally start.
Choir at 10:00, followed by lunch. Then we’ll see. It’s not seriously cold, but it’s also not sunny. Frank needs his hair cut, so maybe we’ll do that.
Tom often comes over and goes shopping with DP, but I haven’t heard anything about plans so far.
Drama Queen and the Boy with Good Teeth are supposed to come by tomorrow for supper. I’m mad at her because she “offered” to sell her junk car to Patrick for an outrageous price, presumably after learning that its trade-in value was virtually zero.
I explained to Patrick that she was trying to swindle him, and that this summer, when the other boys have their learners’ permits and will need the Avalon, he and his dad can go look for a car that will be reliable for several years.
Somehow, I’m not surprised by Drama Queen’s attempts to swindle a younger brother. I think I would be livid at that.
GAH!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.