Posted on 11/13/2018 9:40:34 AM PST by ETL
A new map reveals the remnants of ancient continents that lurk beneath Antarctica's ice.
The map shows that East Antarctica is made up of multiple cratons, which are the cores of continents that came before, according to study leader Jörg Ebbing, a geoscientist at Kiel University in Germany.
"This observation leads back to the break-up of the supercontinent Gondwana and the link of Antarctica to the surrounding continents," Ebbing told Live Science. The findings help reveal fundamental facts about Earth's tectonics and how Antarctica's land and ice sheets interact, he wrote in an email.
Because the continent is so remote and buried in ice, Antarctica is a bit of a blank spot on the geologic map, Ebbing said. The researchers used data from the European Space Agency Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) satellite to fill in the blanks. ..."
They found the evidence of the continent's history as part of Gondwana, a supercontinent made of the modern Southern Hemisphere continents that broke up about 180 million years ago. East Antarctica's crust is thicker than West Antarctica's, at between 25 miles and 37 miles (40 and 60 kilometers) thick, compared with the West's 12 miles and 22 miles (20 and 35 km) thick. The East Antarctic crust is also a mishmash of old cratons, Ebbing said, including the Mawson Craton, which has a matching fragment in southern Australia.
The new data reveal more complexity in East Antarctica's ancient cratons than previously known, Ebbing said. The modern-day continent is also host to regions called orogens, which are crumpled-up regions where ancient continents would have rammed together to build mountains.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
Gondwana was an ancient supercontinent that broke up about 180 million years ago. The continent eventually split into landmasses we recognize today: Africa, South America, Australia, Antarctica, the Indian subcontinent and the Arabian Peninsula.
The familiar continents of today are really only a temporary arrangement in a long history of continental movement. Landmasses on Earth are in a constant state of slow motion, and have, at multiple times, come together as one. These all-in-one supercontinents include Columbia (also known as Nuna), Rodinia, Pannotia and Pangaea (or Pangea).
Gondwana was half of the Pangaea supercontinent, along with a northern supercontinent known as Laurasia.
-snip-
Gondwana’s breakup
During Gondwana’s stint as the southerly supercontinent, the planet was much warmer than it was today — there was no Antarctic ice sheet, and dinosaurs still roamed the Earth. By this time, it was the Jurassic Period, and much of Gondwana was covered with lush rainforest.
The great supercontinent was still under strain, however. Between about 170 million and 180 million years ago, Gondwana began its own split, with Africa and South America breaking apart from the other half of Gondwana.
About 140 million years ago, South America and Africa split, opening up the South Atlantic Ocean between them. Meanwhile, on the eastern half of the once-supercontinent, Madagascar made a break from India and both moved away from Australia and Antarctica.
Australia and Antarctica clung together longer; in fact, Antarctica and Australia didn’t make their final split until about 45 million years ago. At that point, Antarctica started to freeze over as Earth’s climate cooled, while Australia drifted northward. (Today, the Australian continent still moves north at a rate of about 1.2 inches (3 centimeters) a year.) ...”
Here dinosaurs that should be long extinct live and roam, as do a curious race of humanoid savages that appear to exhibit all the various phases of Man's evolutionary development. To survive long enough to repair and replenish the U-boat, wartime enemies must put aside their differences and cooperate with one another. But not everyone is playing from the Kumbaya songbook...
http://www.eccentric-cinema.com/cult_movies/land_time_forgot.htm
Geologist William Dyer, a professor at Arkham’s Miskatonic University, was unavailable for comment.
Reunite Pangaea!
Make Pangaea Permian-ant!
The Goodwanna break up was sad.
But what you go-wanna-do?
“Ancient cratons”?
Is that like Nancy Pelosi?
Go-wanna put it back together again?
Gondwanaping!
The title is "Beneath Antarctica's Ice, Intriguing Evidence of Lost Continents".
Not "Beneath Antarctica's Ice, Intriguing Evidence of Stolen Continents".
:)
“They found the evidence of the continent’s history as part of Gondwana”
I thought it was Wakanda?
Oh sure because these maps were carefully recorded
Doug McClure in his greatest role.
Release the Kraken
When the satellites can show me where huge deposits of gold are, please send a ping. Thanks in advance.
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