Posted on 05/09/2019 12:57:57 PM PDT by ETL
In their research, the scientists point to an earthquake that occurred off the coast of Portugal in 1755, which destroyed the city of Lisbon, and a 7.9-magnitude quake that struck the Portuguese capital in 1969.
Duarte describes the newly-found “structure” in the tectonic plate as “a very good candidate” for the source of these events.
“The 20 upper kilometers [12.4 miles] of the plate is made of soft rocks that are light and the bottom is dense and heavy (because the plate is very old, more than 100 million years),” Duarte told Fox News.
“This causes this lower part to detach from the upper part and sink in the mantle by the pull of gravity," he added, noting that the process is aided by the infiltration of water that softens the upper part of the plate. ..."
As for a “shrinking” Atlantic Ocean, Duarte noted that oceans are “born,” and then spread, before eventually closing to form a new supercontinent, in what is known as the supercontinental cycle.
The Atlantic, for example, was formed from the breakup of the supercontinent Pangea, then “spread” to assume its current form.
“It makes sense that a new supercontinent will form in the future as the result of the closing of the Atlantic,” Duarte added.
Estimates suggest that the new supercontinent, Pangaea Proxima, will form in around 200 million years.
“But for that to happen, new subduction zones have to form in the margins of the Atlantic,” he said.
“What we may be witnessing here is precisely the birth of a new subduction zone that may spread over the entire Atlantic which will eventually lead to its closing.”
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Dark lines outline plate margins, fainter lines the present day continents
Trump’s fault
OMG, this is series.
Is everyone at Faux News a total moron?
This has only been going on for 2-3B years and this is NEWS?
Impeach now!
You mean it's been known for 2-3 billion years that this plate near Portugal has been peeling apart?
Slow news day or morons at Fox news?
They report you decide!!
Yet you interrupted your life to read about it
Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, and several others there are doing a fantastic job reporting on the democrat's fake Russia-collusion story. And in turning it right back at them (the lying, traitorous dems), who were the ones who were actually colluding with the Russians.
Couldn't we just patch it up with a couple of boatloads of "Flex Seal?"
Id go after the contractor, but I heard he’s a tough one to beat.
CC
This can be prevented but only by large increases in taxes.
Clearly the ONLY thing that will stop this is massive new taxes.
Just in the nick of time to swallow the rising sea levels from globull warming.
It was news about 50 years ago or so when some scientist suggested it. I did a grade school science fair project at the time. My Mom baked continents in the oven to help with the project. Thanks Mom and happy Mothers Day!!!
Stopping this must be a global priority. Let’s make it part of Sustainability and Agenda 21.
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