Ubi enim thesaurus vester est ibi et cor vestrum erit. (Luke 12:34)
Fox News reports a giant blob of rocky material dripping like honey lays hidden beneath the U.S. West's Great Basin.
The Great Basin consists of small mountain ranges separated by valleys and includes most of Nevada, the western half of Utah, and portions of other nearby states.
John West of Arizona State University (ASU) and his colleagues found evidence of a large cylindrical blob of cold material far below the surface of central Nevada, while studying the area.
Comparison of the results with CAT scans of the inside of Earth taken by ASU's Jeff Roth suggested they had found a so-called lithospheric drip. (Earth's lithosphere comprises the crust or outer layer of Earth and the uppermost mantle).
A region of heavier material trapped in the lithosphere gets warmed up and begins to sink into the lighter, less dense mantle beneath, pulling a long tail of material after it.
John West said: "Honey dripping off of a spoon is a visual aid to what we think the drip looks like. Dripping honey tends to lead with a large blob of honey, with a long tail of material following the initial blob".
West said the blob is between about 30 miles and 60 miles in diameter and extends from a depth of about 47 miles to at least 310 miles beneath Earth's surface.
The team thinks this drip started some 15 million to 20 million years ago and probably detached from the overlying plate only recently.
Last year, Arizona State University Allen McNamara explained how Earth is not neatly divided into a crust, mantle and core. Rather, several large blobs of highly compressed rock - which he described as behaving like honey or peanut butter - exist.
Since the researchers' analyses suggest the newfound drip probably won't cause the area to sink down or pop up quickly, there will probably be little or no impact on people living above the drip.
This is reassuring.
"Nescitis quia templum Dei estis, et Spiritus Dei habitat in vobis?", 1 Corinthians 3:16.
0 comments:
Post a Comment