In the previous section we described how plate tectonics controls many things on the earth both today and in the past. Here we’ll describe the forces that drive the movements of plates, the patterns of how plates have moved and how computer modelling lets us understand the links between the deep mantle and the surface… Continue reading What drives plate tectonics?
Category: tectonics
Plate tectonics
Deep in the earth, solid rocks can flow, but the surface layers are cold rigid plates that move across the surface. This means that continents are constantly drifting across the earth and oceanic crust is being created and destroyed. Plate tectonics is one of the most successful scientific theories of the Twentieth Century. It explains… Continue reading Plate tectonics
A refolded fold from Scotland
Standing on the shores of Loch nan Uamh I was feeling distracted. There was a lot to attend to. Behind me was a flat strip of grass, growing on a beach deposit now left high and dry by the crust’s slow straightening of its spine after the weight of a huge ice cap melted away.… Continue reading A refolded fold from Scotland
Ultrafast eclogitisation through overpressure
My blogging torpor has been ended by a super-interesting new paper that links together many of my favourite topics. It includes eclogites, metamorphic petrology, ultra-fast metamorphism, determining timescales via diffusion profiles, tectonic overpressure and even the Grampian-Taconic orogeny and opens up new avenues of research. What more could I ask for from a scientific paper? The Rocks… Continue reading Ultrafast eclogitisation through overpressure