The mountain rises faster than expected

The mountain may experience a period of 'booming growth' that doubles its altitude within 2 to 4 million years - much faster than what the popular geological theory offers.

In the June 5 issue of Science, Carmala Garzione, professor of geology at Rocester University, said that this fact means that the current theory of constructivism must be substantially revised and supplemented. a process called 'plate separation'.

The traditional method of estimating mountain growth is to understand the crumbling and cracking history of the earth's crust. With this model, geologists have estimated that the Andes has steadily increased over the past 40 million years.

Garizone and his colleague John M. Eiler, professor of atmospheric geochemistry and marine science at the Indian Academy of Sciences in Bangalore, have used a recently developed method to test the effects of intake. Rain, surface temperature to chemical composition in the soil of a mountain. By studying the Andes sediment basin, the team could determine when and at what height the ancient sediment seawater subsided. The change in elevation is noted that the Andes grew slowly over 10 million years, then suddenly increased much faster in the 10 to 6 million years ago.

Garizone on the Andes mountain, where she studied the elevation of the mountains.(Photo: Rochester University)

The study, done by Garzione's colleague Gregory D. Hoke, corroborates this theory and points out that not only mountains but also an area larger than 300 miles are also raised to the same level as the Andes. . In a study that will soon be published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Lettes, Hoke explains his findings about how rivers form canyons in the Andes flank when the mountains rise. By determining the time of the fracture as well as outlining the depth and range of the canyon, Hoke points out that the elevation of the surface appears in the sediment basin, where Garizone performs his calculations. took place entirely across the Andes.

These new innovations, along with a series of geological signs, including the history of crimping and fracture, erosion, volcanic eruptions and sediment accumulation, have led to controversial splitting. Although the separation process has been mentioned for decades, Garizone said it is still a controversial issue because machine-based mountain formation models are difficult to reconstruct the process. Until the results of the new research were obtained, methods for determining the ancient stratigraphic enhancement process were not very reliable.

When the slab formed the Earth's crust in the ocean and continent in contact, geologists believed that the continental shell was buckling. On the surface, it shows up in the phenomenon of elevated mountains, but under the crust the buckling up creates a dense 'root' to hold the shell back like an anchor. Conventional geological theory suggests that the convection phenomenon of liquid mantle deep in the earth's crust has eroded the dense root layer like a stream that erodes a rock, allowing the mountain to rise slowly as the crust shrinks. and thicken.

However, according to Garizone, the theory of plate separation hypothesizes that instead of being gradually eroded, the root layer heats up, flowing slowly down like molasses until it abruptly swells and sinks. into liquid mantle. The mountains above, escaping the weight, rising like the Andes, increasing the height from about 2 kilometers to 4 kilometers in less than 4 million years.

Garizone said that the rapid rise of the mountains also has an impact on climate and evolution. She currently works with paleontologist Darin A. Croft and professor of case surgery at Case Western Reserve University, and Bruce MacFadden - who is in charge of vertebrate paleontology and professor at Florida University in the process of seeking answers to some questions around the impact of the rapidly rising mountain phenomenon on regional climate and fauna in South America, during the Miocene period when Andes captured head high. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation.