#platetectonics — Public Fediverse posts

The Cascadia Subduction Zone Isn’t Shutting Down – But It’s More Complicated Than We Thought
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https://theconversation.com/the-cascadia-subduction-zone-isnt-shutting-down-but-its-more-complicated-than-we-thought-279730 <-- shared technical article
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https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ady8347 <-- shared paper
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#SciComm #ScienceCommunication #Earthquakes #engineeringgeology #geology #risk #hazard #fault #faulting #Vancouver #VancouverIsland #BritishColumbia #Seattle #OlympicPeninsula #PugetSound #WashingtonState #PNW #PacificNorthwest #NorthAmerica #plateboundary #subduction #platetectonics #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #seismicity #seismic #geophysics #offshore #remotesensing #Cascadia #CascadiaSubductionZone #mechanics #lithosphere##

Subduction Retrieval [XKCD]
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https://xkcd.com/3218/
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“PSA: Please stay out of the Pacific Ocean today. Someone lost their wedding ring in a subduction zone and USGS is pulling the plate back up to retrieve it…
Aww, the oceanic crust and the continental crust are getting married!...”
#PSA #geology #platetectonics #subduction #margins #XKCD #fedservice #publicservice #RingOfFire #weddingring #humor #humour #PacificOcean
#USGS #XKCD

Mid-Proterozoic Expansion Of Passive Margins And Reduction In Volcanic Outgassing Supported Marine Oxygenation And Eukaryogenesis
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2025.119683 <-- shared paper
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https://zenodo.org/records/17353904 <-- supplementary data
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#proterozoic #platetectonics #tectonics #deepcarboncycle #eukaryogenesis #evolutionoflife #life #evolution #geology #geologichistory #pangea #supercontinent #diversification #volcanic #offgassing #marine #thermodynamics #model #modeling #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #nuna #subduction #structuralgeology #CO2 #carbondioxide #climate #eukaryotic #BoringBillion #rodinia #oceanbasins #marinechemistry #outgassing #global #earth

Earth’s 8th Continent Buried Under The Pacific Finally Mapped By Scientists [Zealandia / Te Riu-a-Māui - “Finally”? ~wink~]
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https://dailygalaxy.com/2025/10/earth-8th-continent-finally-mapped/ <-- shared (somewhat) technical article
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https://doi.org/10.1029/2023TC007961 <-- shared 2023 paper
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https://youtu.be/DDbc4K7bgnA?si=EZFmmPFybPLLyND7 <-- shared animation
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"KEY POINTS
• Basalts and pebbly to cobbly sandstones have been dredged from the Fairway Ridge, Coral Sea
• Dating of the rocks and interpretation of magnetic anomalies allow mapping of major geological units across North Zealandia
• This work completes offshore reconnaissance geological mapping of the entire 5 million square km Zealandia continent…”
#geology #doggerland #Zealandia #TeRiuaMaui #godwana #godwanaland #cretaceous #mapping #geologicmapping #spatialanalysis #model #modeling #NewZealand #SouthPacific #continent #sampling #sediment #dredging #petrography #geochemistry #isotope #analyses #research #cenozoic #intraplate #platetectonics #tectonics #eocene #remotesensing #geophysics #geomagnetism

Deep Beneath California's Sierra Nevada, Earth's Lithosphere May Be Peeling Away
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https://phys.org/news/2025-01-deep-beneath-california-sierra-nevada.html <-- shared technical article
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https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL111290 <-- shared paper
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#GIS #spatial #mapping #geology #lithosphere #California #SierraNevada #continentalcrust #crust #mantle #foundering #remotesensing #geophysics #geophysical #earthquake #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #structuralgeology #earthquake #seismic #seismology #Moho #platetectonics #tectonics #shearzone #faults #faulting #seismicity #model #modeling #3dmodel

The GEM Global Active Faults Database [opendata]
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https://doi.org/10.1177/8755293020944182 <-- shared paper
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https://github.com/GEMScienceTools/gem-global-active-faults/blob/master/geopackage/gem_active_faults_harmonized.gpkg <-- global faults spatial database as a geopackage (~14k attributed polylines]
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#GIS #spatial #mapping #data #opendata #database #fault #faults #global #geoscience #earthquakes #GEM #GAF #activefaults #geohazards #attributes #geology #structuralgeology #platetectonics #geopackage

Dr. Tanya Atwater and the Reconstruction of the Plate Tectonics of Western North America

“The best part of the plate business is that it has made us all start communicating. People who squeeze rocks and people who identify deep ocean nannofossils and people who map faults in Montana suddenly all care about each others’ work. I think I spend half my time just talking and listening to people from many fields, searching together for how it might all fit together. And when something does fall into place, there is that mental explosion and the wondrous excitement. I think the human brain must love order.”
~ Dr. Tanya Atwater, the Mother of Plate Tectonics

The quote above is from Tanya Atwater’s article linked below. This article also appears in “Plate Tectonics, An Insider's History of the Modern Theory of the Earth” 2001 by Naomi Oreskes.

In her article, Atwater remembers a heady time when she found herself uniquely poised to take part in the plate tectonic revolution. She met John Tuzo Wilson, was inspired by many mentors and pioneers, collaborated with colleagues across every field of Earth Science, and ultimately solved the puzzle - understanding the forces behind, and timing of, the plate tectonics of Western North America and the San Andreas fault. She did so at a time when science, Earth science no exception, was dominated by men, and women were not invited. How she did so was an act of grace, sheer determination, some support from male colleagues and mentors, and a little luck. I highly recommend reading the article below that reveals all the pieces of science and technology that had to come together to accomplish her break-through. This is how science works, and it is a simply mind-blowing behind-the-scenes look into a rapid revolution, and one of the greatest pinnacles of Earth science.

To view the reconstruction of the tectonics of Northwestern America, watch the video below.

As an aside, as a grad student, I got to meet Tanya in the late 90s at a Geological Society Association Annual Meeting. She was so approachable, friendly, and brilliant. She made a remarkable impact on me.

Plate Tectonics In A Nutshell - Tanya Atwater: https://youtu.be/IDTBY5WDELg

From “When the Plate Tectonic Revolution Met Western North America”: https://atwater.faculty.geol.ucsb.edu/Biography/History_PT_Revolution.pdf

UC Santa Barbara honors Dr. Tanya Atwater and her remarkable impact and career: https://www.news.ucsb.edu/2022/020666/remarkable-impact

Image from: https://www.e-education.psu.edu/earth520/book/export/html/1752

#TanyaAtwater #MotherOfPlateTectonics #PlateTectonics #WesternNorthAmerica #SanAndreasFault #geology #Science @geology

Wilson Cycle Phase 3: Ocean Closing

“I enjoy, and have always enjoyed, disturbing scientists.”

~ John Tuzo Wilson

“From great oceans, giant mountains will form. This is the prediction of the third phase of the Wilson Cycle where we see the closure of the vast oceans like the Iapetus Ocean, and the formation of continent to continent collision mountains.”

~ Professor Dougal Jerrom, intro to Wilson Cycle Phase 3: Ocean Closing video linked below

In the 24 minute video below (a great watch), we continue our travels with Professor Dougal Jerrom of Oslo University, to look at evidence of the closing of the former Iapetus Sea in the Caledonian of Norway. The video starts with a nice recap of the other videos.

Whenever there is an ocean closure, geoscientists always look for ophiolite. Ophiolites in the geologic record provide evidence of subduction zone tectonics. We have already seen the pillow basalts, sheeted dikes (gabbros) and peridotites that form ocean crust in earlier videos in this series. An ophiolite is then a bit of oceanic crust that got swept up in the continental collisions and provides the first proof of an ocean closure.

Next we learn about melange - the sediments that were scraped up during subduction, also known as an accretionary wedge. There are also remnants of the island arc formed during subdution all accreted between the bits of continental crustal blocks that eventually collided.

Enjoy the video below where you see glimpses of the geology of the beautiful Norwegian Caledonian.

Wilson Cycle Phase 3: Ocean Closing: https://youtu.be/jYlQCbDmEVw

More on the closing of the Iapetus Sea here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iapetus_Ocean

Includes Step 5 of the Wilson Cycle: https://c.im/@vickyveritas/10962360456...

Refer to this great labeled diagram of the Wilson Cycle for the components of the ocean closure and continent to continent collision and mountain building: https://c.im/@vickyveritas/109628513962823739

Note: We will see the last steps of the Wilson Cycle, the continent to continent collision and the formation of giant mountain belts, and the great grand finale of this series. Stay tuned.

#JohnTuzoWilson #TheWilsonCycle #Caledonides #IapetusOcean #Norway #PlateTectonics #Ophiolite #AccretionaryWedge #granites #SutureZones #Laurentia #Baltica #geology #ScienceMastodon #NorwegianGeologyRocks @geology

Wilson Cycle Phase 2: Ocean Opening

“…for times before the present oceans existed, we cannot do plate tectonics. Instead we must consider the life cycles of the ocean basins.”

~ John Tuzo Wilson

In the 12 minute video below (a great and quick watch), “Wilson Cycle Phase 2: Ocean Opening”, we continue our travels with Professor Dougal Jerrom of Oslo University, to look at evidence of the former presence of oceanic crust.

The first evidence we find is the presence of pillow basalts formed in the deep ocean. Pillow basalts are erupting magma that is quenched (hardened) by the ocean water. The scientists can tell that the ocean was deep because the pressure of the water allowed the gases to be released in solution (no vesicles in the basalt). Pillow basalts are the top layer of oceanic crust.

Secondly we find evidence of a black smoker in a copper mine. The black smoker was created by hydrothermal activity, as evidenced by the presence of copper and other minerals, in the sheeted dikes, the second layer of oceanic crust.

Wilson Cycle Phase 2: Ocean Opening: https://youtu.be/AtflMez-Zb4

Includes Step 3 and 4 of the Wilson Cycle: c.im/@vickyveritas/10962360456...

Note: We will see the other steps of the Wilson Cycle in this series. More to come!


#TheWilsonCycle #Caledonides #Norway #PlateTectonics #geology #PillowBasalts #SheetedDikes #BlackSmoker #HydrothermalActivity #ScienceMastodon #NorwegianGeologyRocks @geology