Posted on 10/31/2016 1:53:25 PM PDT by JimSEA
A new analysis of the topography of the central Andes shows the uplifting of Earth's second highest continental plateau was driven in part by a huge zone of melted rock in the crust, known as a magma body.
The Altiplano-Puna plateau is a high, dry region in the central Andes that includes parts of Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile, with vast plains punctuated by spectacular volcanoes. In a study published October 25 in Nature Communications, researchers used remote sensing data and topographic modeling techniques to reveal an enormous dome in the plateau.
About 1 kilometer (3,300 feet) high and hundreds of miles across, the dome sits right above the largest active magma body on Earth. The uplifting of the dome is the result of the thickening of the crust due to the injection of magma from below, according to Noah Finnegan, associate professor of Earth and planetary sciences at UC Santa Cruz and senior author of the paper.
"The dome is Earth's response to having this huge low-density magma chamber pumped into the crust," Finnegan said.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
Chile just voted out a socialist government. It would be a nice place if it weren’t for the seismic activity.
Oops, it's "Let it SNOW." Oh well, you get my point.
I don’t know
Where I’m gonna go
When the volcano blow ...
Much lower Andes mountains?
The Andes is the longest continuous mountain range on Earth.
Yosemite goes from about 3000 feet to 13,000 feet.
The AVERAGE elevation in the Andes is 13,000 feet.
It should be under mecca.
Yosemite got to its current condition through erosion. That’s the eventual fate of all mountain ranges. Same thing for the Rockies. The Appalachian were once a massive range as high in some estimates as the Himalayas are now.
“...oh, the magma below is frightful...”
Carlos Danger rising
Quite right!
In fact being from the east coast (upstate NY’er) I actually mentioned that fact about the Appalachians to my next door neighbor.
And the way the Hudson river in NY was formed by collision, a collision of a mini-continent New England into New York.
Wow, a cosmic gas cloud heading towards our galaxy and now a new lava dome in the Andes. Just more to worry about.
Yeah there are two main mountain builders, the collision of two plates like was the case with the Appalachians and Himalayas or the uplift and volcanics of a subduction zone like the Cascades and Andes.
I cant read or say Lake titcaca without a smile on my face How are you as of late Blam ?
The geo-thermal stuff is over in Yellowstone.
In the meantime as parts of the planet’s crust bulge out like this place it must be offset by other parts of the planet sinking inward. Anyone looking at the history/forecasts on southern Louisiana and southern Florida will recognize the risks involved in the changing geology of the planet.
better magma than smegma I always say.
Don’t build on a hydrated limestone or a delta. They have major problems without a rifting or other plate adjustment. But then you well know the danger of all three.
Do they play soccer in this dome?
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