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An upsurge of matter from deep beneath the Earth s crust could be pushing the continents of North and South America further apart from Europe and Africa, new research has found.
The plates attached to the Americas are moving apart from those attached to Europe and Africa by four centimetres per year. In between these continents lies the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a site where new plates are formed and a dividing line between plates moving to the west and those moving to the east; beneath this ridge, material rises to replace the space left by the plates as they move apart.
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Researchers deploy remote sensors at the bottom of the Atlantic (University of Southampton)
Tectonic plates form deep beneath the oceans, making it very difficult for scientists to study their formation and evolution. In 2016, a research team went on a mission to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge to explore the mysteries of plate tectonics. The mission, nicknamed PI-LAB, was to scan deep beneath the ridge using seismic imaging techniques. The analysis reveals that a geological phenomenon is widening the Atlantic Ocean. The seismologists found that an upsurge of matter from deep beneath the Earthâs crust could be pushing the continents of North and South America further apart from Europe and Africa.
Harry Pettit, Senior Digital Technology and Science Reporter
28 Jan 2021, 16:08
BRITAIN and America are growing further apart due to the unusual movement of magma under the Earth s crust, research has found.
Experts from the UK dropped seismometers to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean and found deep geological forces previously unknown to science.
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They re thought to be partly responsible for the glacial movement of tectonic plates which pulls the Americas apart from Europe and Africa by a few centimetres each year.
According to the research team, the finding sheds light on mysterious processes beneath our planet s crust.
Dr Kate Rychert, an expert at the University of Southampton who worked on the project, said the discovery has broad implications for our understanding of Earth’s evolution and habitability .
Scientists found upwellings of material beneath the Earth’s surface from depths far lower than previously known.
Thirty-nine seismometers were deployed on the ocean floor across the Mid-Atlantic Ridge as part of the PI-LAB experiment. (The University of Southampton)
(CN) Material welling up from the Earth’s mantle could be slowly moving North and South America away from Europe and Africa, according to a study published Wednesday.
Between those four continents, and the tectonic plates they are attached to, is the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where new plates are formed. In the study published in Nature, a team of researchers from the University of Southampton and the University of Oxford say they discovered evidence of upwellings in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge from depths far deeper than such upwellings have been previously thought to originate.