12.27.2008

The Tectonic Destruction Derby

That's right... take a look at the Himalaya Mountains. These mountains are created by two continental plates slamming into each other head on. As one plate subducts into the mantle, the other plate rises, creating volcanoes and mountains. All plates are in motion, velocity ranging from just a few mm/yr to 50 mm/yr.















































Key points/questions/comments:

-Does the Earth's core impact the magnetosphere, or vice-versa? If a correlation exists between the two, then is tectonic plate movement impacted by the Earth's magnetics?

-Every year your house moves a few mm... whether you like it or not.

-Global warming could lead to several things... one of which is that we expect the oceans to rise as the ice/snow melts... the second being that with more water, there should be more evaporation (lakes, rivers and aquifers disappear). How will this impact the isostatic rebound? Is it possible that there will be both rising plates and rising oceans? More water in the oceans, but less water on/in central land segments = less weight/pressure = uplift?

-Furthermore, with photodissociation imminent as the sun increases in luminosity and temp. over the next billion years... will this cause the Earth to grow like a balloon? More mass evaporated from the atmosphere = less weight/pressure on land = uplift?

-What's at the Center of the Earth... really?

-Mother Earth is in constant motion, ride her back just like you ride a magic carpet.

-Panspermia hypothesis tweaked: I think that life was seeded here from the outside universe, but the DNA remained in fragments or in it's fundmental building blocks (simple proteins). As the Earth began to cool the seeds began to collesce, subjected to the ever changing landscape and atmosphere. Once pangea came about... and oxygen was produced... life blossomed from it's inner womb (deep sea) to land.