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Earth's Tectonic Plates Have Doubled Their Speed

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posted on Aug, 29 2014 @ 05:55 PM
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"Doom Porn.......Get your Doom Porn here!!!" Just in time for the 3-Day weekend!




The planet's inner heat powers plate tectonics. That heat is ebbing away as Earth ages, and this was expected to slow plate motion. A study last year by Martin Van Kranendonk at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, and colleagues measured elements concentrated by tectonic action in 3200 rocks from around the world, and concluded that plate motion has been slowing for 1.2 billion years.

Now Kent Condie, a geochemist at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro and his colleagues have used a different approach and concluded that tectonic activity is increasing. They looked at how often new mountain belts form when tectonic plates collide with one another. They then combined these measurements with magnetic data from volcanic rocks to work out at which latitude the rocks formed and how quickly the continents had moved.

Both techniques showed plate motion has accelerated. The average rate of continental collisions, and the average speed with which the continents change latitude, has doubled over the last 2 billion years (Precambrian Research, doi.org/vbv).

"We expected to find that the average speed would be slowing down with time, but we didn't get that. Both speeds were going up," says Condie. "It was a surprise."


It's important to note that this measurement is over a 2 billion year time span so I dont think anything major will happen soon tectonically speaking. However, there is another tid-bit of information:




Condie thinks the mantle's huge store of water could explain the finding. When crust sinks back into the mantle, oceanic water gets sucked down too, and although most comes back to the surface in volcanic emissions, over the aeons the store of water in the mantle has grown vast.

Some of this water forms hydrous minerals that essentially make the mantle more runny, says Condie, speeding up the flow of rock. The effect is strong enough to overcome the stiffening of the mantle caused by the gradual cooling inside Earth, he says.

Peter Cawood at the University of St Andrews in the UK thinks the work is interesting and provocative. "The overall increase in the rate of plate motion with time seems real and believable," he says, and could well be linked to changes in the mantle's water content – although convincing sceptics that plates move faster now will be difficult without more data, he adds.


So, more water speeds up the movement of the mantle? Hm.m.m.m...Nothing like some Doom Porn, huh ATS?

www.newscientist.com... VAEBaMVdWSo



posted on Aug, 29 2014 @ 06:01 PM
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a reply to: lostbook

Very cool. Sounds right to me. Can't wait to see everyone's new calculations.

F&S&



posted on Aug, 29 2014 @ 06:34 PM
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originally posted by: soficrow
a reply to: lostbook

Very cool. Sounds right to me. Can't wait to see everyone's new calculations.

F&S&




I'm interested to see what is said.



posted on Aug, 29 2014 @ 07:29 PM
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That heat is ebbing away as Earth ages, and this was expected to slow plate motion.


That should actually read as: Scientists are ASSUMING that the planet's heat is "ebbing away" as earth ages.... based on currently understood theoretical calculations.

They don't truly know whether it is or not.

Hell, for all they know, the core might actually be heating up. Which might even have the possibility to explain all kinds of things currently going on (ie: geomagnetic changes/depletion, suspected increased volcanic activity, suspected increased frequency of 5.0+ earthquakes, mysterious gaping holes and cracks opening up, a warming planet, changes to the jet stream/trade winds/hydrological cycle, mass animal dieoffs, etc etc).

A systemic domino effect per se...

Who knows ?



posted on Aug, 29 2014 @ 07:48 PM
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well I for one think scientist are wrong saying the earths interior will cool .
mars being small this can happen but earth in much larger the heat earth is caused
by the pressure of the ground crust pushing downwards .so earth will never cool.
Ps this is my theory.



posted on Aug, 29 2014 @ 09:14 PM
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originally posted by: CranialSponge



That heat is ebbing away as Earth ages, and this was expected to slow plate motion.


That should actually read as: Scientists are ASSUMING that the planet's heat is "ebbing away" as earth ages.... based on currently understood theoretical calculations.

They don't truly know whether it is or not.

Hell, for all they know, the core might actually be heating up. Which might even have the possibility to explain all kinds of things currently going on (ie: geomagnetic changes/depletion, suspected increased volcanic activity, suspected increased frequency of 5.0+ earthquakes, mysterious gaping holes and cracks opening up, a warming planet, changes to the jet stream/trade winds/hydrological cycle, mass animal dieoffs, etc etc).

A systemic domino effect per se...

Who knows ?


I love when you say "mass animal die-offs....."



posted on Aug, 29 2014 @ 09:17 PM
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I don't know if its because we are monitoring things more closely than before or not, but it seems like there are more earthquakes happening now than in the past. Especially on largely inactive faults. Active faults, such as the Pacific rim, are really seeing a lot of action. If the amplitude increases at the same rate as perceived in frequency it could get interesting. I was particularly fascinated by an article (source unknown) regarding the Yellowstone super-caldera and the impending "big shaker" that is said to be on the way.

Any thoughts on the seismic/volcanic ramp-up that seems to be happening?



posted on Aug, 29 2014 @ 09:51 PM
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a reply to: lostbook




I love when you say "mass animal die-offs....."


Just thinking outside the box, LOL.

It seems to me that the majority of animal deaths that have occurred over the past decade have been migratory animals (fish, birds, bees, et al). These animals use magnetics to determine their migratory patterns. For all we know, a change in magnetics might be frying their neurological synapses.

So if there are temp changes going on with the earth's inner/outer core, and thus our magnetosphere....




posted on Aug, 29 2014 @ 11:02 PM
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a reply to: CranialSponge

It's kinda cool to be living in these times to bear witness to these major Earth changes, but it's also scary for the potential of what may happen in our lifetimes. Mars colonization efforts may be right on time.

Excellent observation, btw.


edit on 29-8-2014 by lostbook because: add text



posted on Aug, 29 2014 @ 11:06 PM
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originally posted by: midnightstar
well I for one think scientist are wrong saying the earths interior will cool .
mars being small this can happen but earth in much larger the heat earth is caused
by the pressure of the ground crust pushing downwards .so earth will never cool.
Ps this is my theory.




Another theory is radio activity keeping the interior hot, although how the inside of the Earth spins and produces the magnetic envelope that protects us from the sun is somewhat of a mystery to me.



posted on Aug, 29 2014 @ 11:40 PM
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a reply to: pikestaff

There is a theory called dynamo theory which might help explain the earths magnetic field. If the earths inner iron core attains it spin from interaction with suns magnetic field it might explain why earths magnetic field has become weaker at the same time as the suns. A slowing core might increase pressure (Bernoulli's principle) which could result in increase in volcanic activity.



posted on Aug, 30 2014 @ 12:02 AM
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a reply to: lostbook

well that just goes against my perspective of Decay.

hrumphh



and that Energy cannot produce more than its sum total at ignition.

just not right.




posted on Aug, 30 2014 @ 12:04 AM
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there is one thing that causes this type of excitement though,,microwave,,which also heats from the inside out,,



posted on Aug, 30 2014 @ 12:53 AM
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Cool OP

A lot of heat comes from radiation. The biggest atoms tended to move to the center of the Earth back when it was molten. Most of those big atoms were radioactive. They have been through millions of half lives so the radiation is getting used up, and the core is cooling due to that.

Also the Earth is slowing down and the moon is moving away. Both of those effects cause cooling as
well.


Water as a lubricant in a paper about earthquakes


Geophysicists have established a mode of action that can explain the irregular distribution of
strong earthquakes at the San Andreas Fault in California. The scientists examined the electrical
conductivity of the rocks at great depths, which is closely related to the water content within the
rocks. From the pattern of electrical conductivity and seismic activity they were able to deduce
that rock water acts as a lubricant.
www.sciencedaily.com...



Deep burial means higher pressure and hotter temperatures, and very high temperature and
pressures cause the formation of new minerals, and mineral grains.
imnh.isu.edu...


Many minerals can only be made by metamorphic processes. The extremely high pressures inside the Earth can cause counterintuitive effects.


For instance, the earth's core really does spin. If you cut the earth in half, it would look like a hard-boiled egg with a very large yolk. The shell represents the earth's 35-km (22 mile)- thick (or less) crust on which we walk and live. The egg white represents the 2,850- km (1770 mile)- thick mantle, the source of heat for Hawaiian and other hot spot volcanoes, and the yolk represents the 3,500-km (2172 mile) -thick core.

The core is made of two sections - a liquid outer core and a solid inner core. Both sections are made predominantly of iron and nickel. The inner core is under such great pressure that it cannot melt, even though temperatures are estimated at 3,700-6,000?C (6,700-10,800?F). This is about the temperature of the surface of the sun, while a sizzling molten lava flow from Kilauea is a cool 1,100?C (2,000?F).
hvo.wr.usgs.gov...


This could explain a lot of global climate variation.

edit on 30-8-2014 by Semicollegiate because: (no reason given)



posted on Aug, 30 2014 @ 11:18 AM
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a reply to: Semicollegiate

Whatever the reason(s), it's happening; the situation may get dire for humans here on Earth pretty soon.



posted on Aug, 30 2014 @ 11:21 AM
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originally posted by: glend
a reply to: pikestaff

There is a theory called dynamo theory which might help explain the earths magnetic field. If the earths inner iron core attains it spin from interaction with suns magnetic field it might explain why earths magnetic field has become weaker at the same time as the suns. A slowing core might increase pressure (Bernoulli's principle) which could result in increase in volcanic activity.


That could be....It's along the line of what I am thinking. Unfortunately, for us humans, it appears that the Earth is starting the "recycling process" where life is stopped and we get to start all over again.

Yippee!


(post by galeofdeath removed for a serious terms and conditions violation)


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