{"id":132965,"date":"2024-12-03T21:16:58","date_gmt":"2024-12-03T14:16:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=132965"},"modified":"2024-12-03T21:16:58","modified_gmt":"2024-12-03T14:16:58","slug":"this-massive-underwater-mountain-range-was-made-by-a-moving-hotspot-sciencealert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=132965","title":{"rendered":"This Massive Underwater Mountain Range Was Made by a &#8216;Moving&#8217; Hotspot : ScienceAlert"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The Indian Ocean is home to a mountain range longer than the<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Rocky_Mountains\"> North American Rockies<\/a>, and yet today, all 5,000 kilometers (3,107 miles) of it are hidden under the sea.<\/p>\n<p>A new study delves deep beneath the waves to show how the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ninety_East_Ridge\">Ninetyeast Ridge<\/a> was formed between 43 and 83 million years ago \u2013 and its origins are quite the surprise.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>Seamounts are underwater volcanoes found in <a href=\"https:\/\/oceanexplorer.noaa.gov\/edu\/materials\/how-seamounts-form-fact-sheet.pdf\">every single ocean<\/a>. They are caused by &#8216;hotspots&#8217; beneath Earth&#8217;s surface, in which gathering heat melts away the mantle, releasing hot plumes in a pipe-like upwelling.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>At first, scientists did not think hotspots could move, so a trail of volcanoes underwater was thought to result from tectonic plates sliding over the top of a stationary hotspot. Think of it like an upside-down sewing machine, with a stationary &#8216;needle&#8217; of hot material piercing a cloth sliding above it, stitching a line.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>As it turns out, the Indian Ocean&#8217;s submerged volcanic chain was formed in a different way. The hotspot in this case is better imagined as a fountain pen, with the moving &#8216;tip&#8217; depositing liquid magma across the surface of the Earth.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Unlike most volcanic hotspots that remain stationary in the mantle and create volcanic trails as tectonic plates drift over them, this study found that the hotspot responsible for the Ninetyeast Ridge moved by several hundred kilometres within the mantle over time,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/research.curtin.edu.au\/news\/moving-hotspot-created-worlds-longest-straight-underwater-mountain-belt\/?type=media\">explains<\/a> geoscientist Hugo Olierook from Curtin University in Australia.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This kind of hotspot movement is thought to be common but is hard to prove and has only previously been demonstrated for a few hotspots in the Pacific Ocean, making this the first documented case in the Indian Ocean.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_145702\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-145702\" style=\"width: 642px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-03-at-3.35.38%E2%80%AFPM-642x239.png\" alt=\"Ridge Stages A and B\" width=\"642\" height=\"239\" class=\"wp-image-145702 size-medium\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-03-at-3.35.38\u202fPM-642x239.png 642w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-03-at-3.35.38\u202fPM-1024x382.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-03-at-3.35.38\u202fPM-768x286.png 768w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-03-at-3.35.38\u202fPM-1536x573.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-03-at-3.35.38\u202fPM-2048x763.png 2048w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-03-at-3.35.38\u202fPM-600x224.png 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 642px) 100vw, 642px\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-145702\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A: Stage I from ~83\u2009Ma to 66\u2009Ma. B: Stage II from ~66\u2009Ma to 62\u2009Ma. (Jian et al., <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-024-54092-6\"><em>Nature Communications<\/em><\/a>, 2024)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Kerguelen hotspot is the one responsible for creating the Indian Ocean&#8217;s vertical underwater scar, and inconclusive studies have suggested the hotspot may have moved southward or westward over time.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>Researchers in Australia, Sweden, China, and the US have now analyzed basalt samples from the Ninetyeast Ridge to support that idea.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_145704\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-145704\" style=\"width: 642px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-03-at-3.38.18%E2%80%AFPM-642x241.png\" alt=\"Ridge Stages C and D\" width=\"642\" height=\"241\" class=\"wp-image-145704 size-medium\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-03-at-3.38.18\u202fPM-642x241.png 642w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-03-at-3.38.18\u202fPM-1024x385.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-03-at-3.38.18\u202fPM-768x289.png 768w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-03-at-3.38.18\u202fPM-1536x577.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-03-at-3.38.18\u202fPM-2048x769.png 2048w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-03-at-3.38.18\u202fPM-600x225.png 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 642px) 100vw, 642px\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-145704\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">C: Stage III from ~62\u2009Ma to 53\u2009Ma. D: Stage IV from ~53\u2009Ma to 46\u2009Ma. (Jian et al., <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-024-54092-6\"><em>Nature Communications<\/em><\/a>, 2024)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Their results suggest that the Kerguelen mantle plume was created when the Indian Plate began to drift northward, opening up the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>If the Kerguelen hotspot had remained fixed below the Indian Plate during this movement, then the ridge would have moved northward at the same rate as the seafloor spreading.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>But that is not what the team found.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>Between 83 and 66 million years ago, radioisotopic dating suggests, the peaks of the mountain range were created at roughly half the rate of the seafloor spreading.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>This means &#8220;the Kerguelen hotspot was not fixed beneath the Indian Plate,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-024-54092-6#Sec2\">writes<\/a> the international team of researchers, led by Qiang Jiang from the China University of Petroleum.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s hard to explain why the hotspot moved at this rate, but Jiang and colleagues <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-024-54092-6\">argue<\/a> &#8220;the most likely scenario is that the mantle plume was captured by the northward-migrating Indian-Antarctic spreading ridge, and plume materials flowed continuously towards the spreading ridge and erupted at the ridge.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>About 66 million years ago, the plume was &#8220;disconnected&#8221; when the spreading ridge started drifting too far away. Later, the plume was temporarily captured again, this time by the western spreading ridge.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>By roughly 42 million years ago, the hotspot had drawn a vertical line that now separates the Indian Ocean into east and west.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_145563\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-145563\" style=\"width: 642px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/12\/480px-NinetyEastRidge.jpg\" alt=\"NInetyeast Ridge\" width=\"642\" height=\"857\" class=\"wp-image-145563\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/12\/480px-NinetyEastRidge.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/12\/480px-NinetyEastRidge-311x415.jpg 311w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 642px) 100vw, 642px\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-145563\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Indian Ocean&#8217;s Ninetyeast Ridge. (<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ninety_East_Ridge#\/media\/File:NinetyEastRidge.jpg\">Tonicthebrown\/Wikimedia Commons\/Public Domain<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&#8220;For years, rough age estimates of the Ninetyeast Ridge have been used to construct models of how Earth&#8217;s tectonic plates moved and reconfigured,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/research.curtin.edu.au\/news\/moving-hotspot-created-worlds-longest-straight-underwater-mountain-belt\/?type=media\">says<\/a> earth scientist Fred Jourdan from Curtin.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;By using high-precision dating we can refine these models significantly, leading to better insights into ancient continental movements.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The study was published in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-024-54092-6\"><em>Nature Communications<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/this-massive-underwater-mountain-range-was-made-by-a-moving-hotspot\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Indian Ocean is home to a mountain range longer than the North American Rockies, and yet today, all 5,000 kilometers (3,107 miles) of it are hidden under the sea. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=132965\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8628],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=132965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132965\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=132965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=132965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=132965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}