The Earth's Crust Is 'Dripping' in Türkiye

Strange cracks and depressions in Türkiye's Central Anatolian Plateau are evidence of the Earth's crust sinking deeper into itself.

According to Science Alert, in Turkey's Central Anatolian plateau , below a depression called the Konya Basin , a research team led by geophysicist Julia Andersen from the University of Toronto (Canada) discovered evidence of the gradual subsidence of the Earth's crust.

This process is gradually shaping the geological surface not only of the basin but also of the plateau that surrounds it.

This prompted them to look at other geophysical data below the surface and discover seismic anomalies that show changes even in the top part of the mantle, representing a phenomenon called a "lithospheric drip."

Lake Tuz in the Konya Basin, in the Central Anatolian Plateau of Türkiye - (Photo: PHYS).

According to the article published in the scientific journal Nature Communications, this happens when the lower part of the Earth's rocky crust is heated to a certain temperature and becomes slightly viscous.

Then, like drops of honey or syrup, it slowly flows down, falling into the "belly" of the planet.

Although the scale of the swallowed material is much smaller than that of tectonic plates sinking due to plate tectonics, the crustal droplets are still enormous, enough to cause major disturbances below.

As these droplets flow down the mantle, they change the temperature, chemical composition, density, and viscosity of the mantle, causing it to deform, creating a pervasive topographic change: Some places rise, others sink.

In the area the scientists studied, the Konya Basin is sinking about 20 mm per year, while the entire Central Anatolian Plateau has risen about 1 km over the past 10 million years.

In other words , the "drop" of Earth's crust falling in the Konya Basin creates an effect similar to a drop of water falling into a calm lake, causing the water around it to rise.

Additionally, a broader look around also shows that the "drop" of Earth's crust that created Konya is only the second, smaller drop in the past.

Evidence of this first drop lies in the larger area of ​​the plateau, which is in the process of recovering from that first drop.

Description of changes caused by lithospheric drip phenomena in the past and today - (Photo: NATURE COMMUNICATION)

This trickling phenomenon will continue into the future, with other 'baby drops' apparently forming in various places across this vast plateau. Surely tens, hundreds of millions of years from now, this region will look very different from today.