Skip to main content

Satellite Data Reveals How Earth's Crust Is 'Dripping' Beneath Turkey

A recent study has confirmed a fascinating geological phenomenon happening beneath Turkey. An analysis of satellite data revealed the Earth's crust below the Konya Basin in the Central Anatolian Plateau of Turkey has been reshaping over millions of years. The research, conducted by Earth scientists at the University of Toronto, was published in Nature Communications.

Researchers said experimental simulations, combined with geological, geophysical and geodetic data, explain the enigmatic sinking of the basin, inside the rising plateau interior.

It further adds to the existence of a new class of plate tectonics that have implications for other planets in the universe, like Mars and Venus, that do not have Earth-like plate tectonics.

The study suggests the sinking is due to the multi-stage lithospheric dripping — the phenomenon named for the instability of rocky material that creates the crust and upper mantle of the Earth.

Major landforms like basins and mountainous folding of the crust are formed at the surface as the dense rock fragments beneath get detached and sink into more fluid layers of the mantle of the planet, the research said.

“Looking at the satellite data, we observed a circular feature at the Konya Basin where the crust is subsiding or the basin is deepening,” said lead author Julia Andersen, a PhD candidate in the Department of Earth Sciences in the Faculty of Arts & Science at the University of Toronto.

This prompted the researchers to look at other geophysical data beneath the surface. There they witnessed a "seismic anomaly in the upper mantle and a thickened crust, telling us there is high-density material there and indicating a likely mantle lithospheric drip," Andersen added.

In the past, studies have suggested that the Central Anatolian Plateau has risen by around one kilometre over the past 10 million years due to the lithospheric dripping phenomenon.

How it happens

Russell Pysklywec, a co-author of the study, has given insight into the phenomenon and stated that when the lithosphere thickened and further dripped below the region, this led to the formation of a basin at the surface that "later sprang up when the weight below broke off and sank into the deeper depths of the mantle".

However, this process was not a one-time tectonic event, Pysklywec said and suggested that the "initial drip seems to have spawned subsequent daughter events elsewhere in the region, resulting in the curious rapid subsidence of the Konya Basin within the continuously rising plateau of Turkiye.”

To conclude, the research team recreated the dripping process in laboratory experiments and further analysed the observations.



from NDTV News-World-news https://ift.tt/XYzwb3O

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sri Lanka Must Achieve Debt Restructuring By September: IMF

The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday reaffirmed that Sri Lanka must achieve its debt restructuring process by September, which is also the time for the global lender's formal review of the bailout facility it extended to the cash-strapped nation. On March 20, IMF extended a nearly $3 billion bailout facility to debt-ridden Sri Lanka that would help stabilise the country's economy after it was jolted by a devastating economic crisis last year. In a statement issued on Tuesday at the end of a nearly two weeks staff visit to Colombo to assess the progress made by Sri Lanka since the agreement was reached, the IMF said the two sides had discussed the developments on debt restructuring. "Sri Lanka must achieve debt restructuring by its first review due in September. We also discussed progress on debt restructuring, noting the ongoing discussions with both foreign and domestic creditors," the statement read. Sri Lanka is still struggling to normalise its crisis-hi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Biden Warns "All Out War" Possible In Middle East

US President Joe Biden warned Wednesday of the possibility of an "all-out war" in the Middle East but said he was hopeful a settlement was still achievable for the conflict-torn region. Biden's comments as he appeared on ABC chat show "The View" came as Israel put troops on alert for possible entry into Lebanon and the war in Gaza grinds on. "An all-out war is possible," Biden said when asked about the situation. "What I think is, also, the opportunity is still in play to have a settlement that could fundamentally change the whole region." Biden appeared to raise the possibility of a ceasefire in Lebanon, where Israeli strikes targeting the Hezbollah militia have killed more than 600 people this week. "They have a possibility -- I don't want to exaggerate it -- there's a possibility if we can deal with a ceasefire in Lebanon that it can move into dealing with the West Bank as well," said Biden. Israel has been carrying ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Amazon Rainforest Tribe's Secret To Healthy Life And Slow Ageing Revealed

Deep in the Amazon rainforest, a semi-nomadic indigenous community is thriving. This community defies conventional norms on ageing and health. The Tsimanes, consisting of 16,000 people, live a fully subsistence lifestyle, relying on hunting, foraging and farming to survive. Scientists have been studying this unique group for two decades, and have uncovered remarkable findings till now. Martina Canchi Nate, an 84-year-old Tsimanes woman, digs up yucca trees, cuts down plantain trees and carries heavy loads with ease, faster than her younger companions, as per a BBC report. This level of physical activity is not unusual among Tsimanes of her age. Researchers have discovered that this group has the healthiest arteries ever studied and brains that age more slowly than those in North America, Europe and elsewhere. The Tsimanes' secret lies in their active lifestyle, with an average of 16,000 to 17,000 steps per day. They spend less than 10 percent of daylight hours in sedentary activ...
Post a Comment
Read more