Posted on 03/16/2016 12:21:20 PM PDT by JimSEA
Geologists from the University of Sydney and the California Institute of Technology have solved the mystery of how Australia's highest mountain -- Mount Kosciuszko -- and surrounding Alps came to exist.
Most of the world's mountain belts are the result of two continents colliding (e.g. the Himalayas) or volcanism. The mountains of Australia's Eastern highlands -- stretching from north-eastern Queensland to western Victoria -- are an exception. Until now no one knew how they formed.
A research team spearheaded by Professor Dietmar Müller from the University's School of Geosciences used high performance computing code to investigate the cause of the uplift which created the mountain range. The team found the answer in the mountains' unusually strong gravity field.
"The gravity field led us to suspect the region might be pushed up from below so we started looking at the underlying mantle: the layer of rock between the Earth's core and its crust," said Professor Müller.
The team found the mantle under Australia's east coast has been uplifted twice.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
Also, today two outstanding virtual tours Virtual Geologic Tour from Gray Mountain to Black Mesa, Northern Arizona (Arizona's Dinosaur country) the second Ascending Grand Canyon's Bright Angel Trail with Dr. Dale Nations both from the Arizona Geological Survey. Well worth the time, next best thing to actually going there with a geologist as a guide.
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ping
Atlas shrugged on the opposite side of the globe causing those mountains to be uplifted!
A”Eastern Australia was drifting over a subducted plate graveyard, giving it a sinking feeling,” said co-author Dr Kara Matthews, a former PhD candidate at the University now at the University of Oxford. “But around 100 million years ago subduction came to a halt, resulting in the entire region being uplifted, forming the Eastern Highlands.”
Its all about uplift and subduction.
That's MR. High Performance Computing Code, to you unwashed taxpaying masses!
Ain't that the truth.
Sigh.
You’re thinking of seduction ...
Atlas shrugged...
Maybe he sneezed.
Not to be too pedantic but if your comparing the highest mountains on each continent, Mt. Cook in New Zealand is the highest mountain in Australasia, its over 12,000 feet.
“high performance computing code”
WOW!
The lingering effects of subducted plate is relatively new. At one time, the mantle was thought of as a fairly uniform layer of plastic rock under heat and pressure moving as convection currents and now there are some surprises. Everything that was theorized before still has elements of fact but new ideas raise even more questions as they should.
I was going to be too pedantic and ask whether Mt. Everest was technically on the Asian plate or the Indian plate and which continental plate was therefore unrepresented.
You say seduction, I say subduction, let's call the whole thing off...
Crazy how tiny NZ has many towering mountains that put all the mountains of the entire Australian landmass to shame.
I used to be a peakbagger, specifically state high points. This one in AUS would not be worth the trip!
It reminds me of the state high point in Kansas.
Call it off or pull it off ... ?
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