Would the US East Coast rise if everyone living there moved away?
I watched a documentary about research on the coasts of Greenland where the sea level has fallen. According to the research, this is because a lot of the glaciers have melted, resulting in less weight...
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Why are the supposed-to-be results of collision and/or subduction formed in...
Please correct me if I have said something wrong, as it might be the answer to my question. Also, these are all the things that I've learned through self-studying, so I might have been...
View ArticleWhy does a subduction zone produce a serpentinization diapir rather than...
The classic Troodos Ophiolite in Cyprus has been uplifted by a 'serpentinization event'. Upper mantle (peridotite) has been serpentinized creating a buoyant diapir. This has uplifted the ocean crust...
View ArticleDoes the Moon affect earthquakes?
Does the Moon, through factors like its location (if it is at an apsis i.e closest point or furthest point in its orbit) or some changes in density, affect earthquakes on the Earth?Earthquakes are a...
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Speculative Plate Techtonics - Resolving intersecting subductions
I'm working through Artifaxian's (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzD_WVsEIRM) series on using gPlates to make tectonic history. I've run into the place where I have two subduction ridges about to...
View ArticleGoogle Earth type, online plate-techtonics demonstration over time
I once found an site on the internet that displayed the continents in a Google Earth type setting where you could spin, zoom and navigate around the Earth but in different geological time periods. You...
View ArticleHow is felsic magma produced at island arcs?
I previously believed that continental crust owes its lower density to the partial melting of oceanic crust; the mantle would partially melt at mid-ocean ridges to produce basaltic crust, and when this...
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Can a tectonic plate subduct under one plate while another plate subducts...
At a triple junction plate boundary there are three tectonic plates meeting. We have plenty of examples of these boundaries on Earth, notably the Afar Triple Junction, Mendocino Triple Junction, and...
View ArticleIs the Theia impact partly responsible for the distribution of mantle plumes?
I was looking at a map of the distribution of mantle plumes, and was wondering if they could be residual material that was either brought here or affected by the Theia impact.It seems to me that this...
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Do these rock layers correspond to different years?
This is a close picture of a cliff in the north coast of Spain. As you can see, the rock is composed of multiple thin layers, alternating between dark and light materials. Could this be the result of...
View ArticleWhy is basalt denser than granite?
If lava is nothing but magma breaking through the earth's surface, then why is basalt more dense than granite?I understand that something happens during the cooling process, but cannot find any...
View ArticleIf among oceanic crusts older means heavier, then why is old continental...
When we consider two oceanic crusts, the older oceanic crust is heavier and the newer oceanic crust is lighter.But when we consider two crusts, one continental and the other oceanic, continental crust...
View ArticleWhy was the initial theory of plate tectonics so controversial?
I have been set the task of researching plate tectonics, specifically:"Why was its discovery so important in its time and controversial?"I do not need a long answer, although more detail is always...
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What is the tectonic setting for the formation of the Great Dividing Range in...
Australia's Great Dividing Range is the largest mountain range on the continent, running down the length of the eastern part of the continent, as shown in the Geoscience Australia map as a dark line,...
View ArticleWhat forces plays the role in order to subduct the denser tectonic plate...
I am a 10th grade student and I don't know much about geology but I'm learning about subduction online. It's always mentioned that the denser plate gets subducted under the lesser denser plate. I want...
View ArticleFarallon plate subducting under North American plate: is it a factor in "the...
I am a writer, not a scientist of any kind. I live in the SW AZ desert (USA), so we get earthquakes from time to time. I grew up in southern CA, right next to the San Andreas fault, so I have a cursory...
View ArticleIs the earth crust under the pacific ocean heavier than in the rest of the...
Please bear with me, since I don't know much about geography or geology.I was looking at an earth globe and noticed the pacific ocean covers virtually half of the planet (more or less). How is it even...
View ArticleDo tidal forces affect subduction?
I know subduction in plate tectonics is mainly density driven.Probably a hypothetical question, but can weaknesses caused by tidal forces have an influence on the start of a subduction zone? Would this...
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Do subducted continents rise up again through ridges?
Layman here, sorry if this is a stupid question. I have a geology friend who recently told me that plate tectonics is like how warm milk cools on top to form thin solid layers. The convection cells in...
View ArticleWhat is the maximum intensity with which an earthquake can struck Chitral...
I am working on a disaster response logistics case study in which I am using Mi-17 helicopters for transportation of relief to the affected areas in main Chitral city.In this regard, I want to...
View ArticleIs it inaccurate to describe Earth's mantle as "soft and plastic"?
The Earth's mantle, away from the occasional magma chamber, is solid. But it flows over time and so is described as "pliant", "hot chocolate", "toothpaste", etc.Glaciers flow much faster. But ice is...
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Is the Pacific Plate composed of smaller plates?
The question, Why are all lower mantle plumes under oceans? has the following diagramwhich was taken from Wikipedia Commons.About half of the large red dots occur on or near the boundaries of tectonic...
View ArticleHow Do Plateaus Really Form?
Any time I hear the word "plateau", I usually associate it with the tallest in the world, Tibet. Anyone who looks closely at a map will see that the southern line of the plateau parallels the location...
View ArticleWhat would Canada's larger lakes (Bear, Great Slave, Winnipeg, and Athabasca)...
Canada's larger lakes (minus the "Great Lakes" that it shares with the USA) sit on the edge of the Canadian Shield (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TmSP02zPaI). On the other side of the basin, formed...
View ArticleIf there was no Glaciation, what would the USA great Lakes look like?
I guess, what they looked like before Glaciation could also work as an answer.Everything I have seen on the lakes only mention their post-glacial forms even when some of them mention that they formed...
View ArticleHow is the difference in crust and mantle composition explained?
We know that the composition of the crust is SiAl and SiMa and the one of mantle is mostly ophiolites, but why? Which are the geological processes that make this difference exist?
View ArticleQuestion regarding the breakup of India from Eastern Gondwana
I wanted to ask this question as it relates to a project I am working on. In this "timeline" when India broke away from Gondwana the Indian Plate took a small piece of land from Eastern Antarctica;...
View ArticleWhat determines the shape of tectonic plates?
I understand plate tectonics at approximately the level of the Wikipedia entry, but I have not idea what factors determine the particular locations of the plate boundaries.Do we have a model for the...
View ArticleIf the Pacific Ocean is 750 million years old, Why can't oceanic crust be...
Since the first rocks of the pacific Ocean plates solidified from magma coming out of a rift 750 million years ago, shouldn't they be much older than the maximum age of oceanic crust (around 200...
View ArticleWhy hasn't all the water on earth evaporated and been frozen at the poles?
It seems like over a long enough time scale, if the surface temperature of a planet varies between perennially below freezing and occasionally above freezing, that all of the water on the planet would...
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