Pages

A universe of beauty, mystery and wonder

A universe of beauty, mystery and wonder
©http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/ UNAUTHORIZED USE AND/OR DUPLICATION OF THIS BLOG'S MATERIAL IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED. EXCERPTS AND LINKS MAY BE USED, PROVIDED THAT FULL AND CLEAR CREDIT IS GIVEN TO OTTERS AND SCIENCE NEWS BLOGSPOT WITH APPROPRIATE AND SPECIFIC DIRECTION TO THE ORIGINAL CONTENT. --- THE FACTS AND OPINIONS POSTED ON THIS BLOG ARE HERE FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSE AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS AND OPINIONS OF THIS BLOG'S ADMINISTRATOR.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

GEOLOGY NEWS -

NEW SUBDUCTION ZONE BRINGS EUROPE CLOSER TO AMERICA

 

Newly found subduction zone off the coast of Portugal.

 
Subduction zones are areas where one of the that cover the Earth's surface dives beneath another plate into the mantle - the layer just below the crust.  Tectonic plates movements are so powerful over time, that they can bring continents together into one Supercontinent.
 
Lead author Dr João Duarte said  his team mapped the and found it was beginning to fracture, indicating tectonic activity around the apparently passive South West Iberia plate margin.
 
"What we have detected is the very beginnings of an active margin - it's like an embryonic ," Dr Duarte said.
 
Significant , including the 1755 quake which devastated Lisbon, suggested the existence of convergent tectonic movement in the area. Now it has been confirmed.
 
The incipient subduction in the Iberian zone could signal the start of a new phase of the Wilson Cycle - where plate movements break up supercontinents, like Pangaea, and open oceans, stabilise, and then form new subduction zones which close the oceans and bring the scattered continents back together.
 
This break-up and reformation of supercontinents has happened at least three times, over more than four billion years, on Earth. The Iberian subduction will gradually pull Iberia (Spain and Portugal) towards the United States over approximately 220 million years.
 
Read more
http://phys.org/news/2013-06-embryonic-subduction-zone.html
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2013/06/17/3783617.htm
Excellent articlehttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2345104/A-new-crack-discovered-ocean-floor-pull-North-America-Europe--cause-Atlantic-Ocean-disappear-completely.html

Tectonic activities tend to produce earthquakes.  Any earthquake on the other side of the Atlantic can result in a tsunami travelling towards the American east coast.  There is a very active volcano in the Canary Islands (El Hierro), off the African coast. If there is a major eruption, a tidal wave may also head this way

http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2013/03/volcano-news-canary-islands-earthquake.html

 
RELATED:

SUBDUCTION ZONE explained, with illustration: 
http://www.universetoday.com/74588/what-is-a-subduction-zone/
 
Illustration showing the major fracture along the Atlantic Ocean:  
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130617104614.htm

MAP OF PANGEA with present political borders - Pangea was the last instance when all continents merged into one massive supercontinent. Pangea began breaking up 200 million years ago.
http://io9.com/heres-what-pangea-looks-like-mapped-with-modern-politi-509812695

Additional geology news on this blog: http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/search/label/Geology
Volcano news
http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/search/label/Volcanoes

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thank you for visiting my blog. Your comments are always appreciated, but please do not include links.