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Tuesday, May 7, 2019, 22:24 – Models show that the Atlantic Ocean could shrink considerably
The bottom of a tectonic plate off the Portuguese coast is moving away from its summit, and geologists believe it could be the beginning of a new subduction zone. A study published in Geological Magazine states that if the coat action is confirmed, it would be the first time that an oceanic plate would be recorded making this motion and could be one of the first stages of the narrowing of the Atlantic Ocean and traction from Europe to Canada.
A subduction zone is where two tectonic plates meet and one slides under the other. They can form mountainous regions when the plates collide and pieces of the earth's crust are bent upwards, such as the Himalayan mountains.
A cross section of a subduction zone.
The length of the subduction zones creates a potential for releasing huge amounts of energy during the collision of the plates, and some of the most violent earthquakes that have occurred have occurred along this type of boundary, such as the magnitude 9.5 earthquake in Chile in 1960.
João Duarte, marine geologist from the Instituto Dom Luiz of the University of Lisbon, told National Geographic that, while there is evidence that a supercontinent could form, the projection models tectonic activity still need to be tested. The tectonic plate movements require thousands of years of data to model their movements, and it could take 250 million years for a supercontinent, called Pangea Ultima, to form.
For geologists, the origins of the subduction zones remain a mystery and, once they have formed, they cause the oceanic crust and the upper mantle towards the center of the Earth, which also causes the continents in the direction in which they move. About 90% of earthquakes occur in the fire circle, which is a disjunct chain of subduction zones along the Pacific Ocean.
While other researchers have published studies confirming that seismic activity was recorded in the area that would be the site of a subduction zone in formation, Duarte's work did not not yet published in a peer-reviewed journal and other geologists express mixed reviews about it. theory.
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