While it’s the reigning theory now, the road to acceptance was long and bumpy for plate tectonics, which describes how large portions of Earth’s crust slide, grind, rise and sink ever so slowly across its sludgy mantle.
But even now, more than half a century after it was given the scientific tick of approval, the theory needs some refining.
A new study looking at four plateaus in the western Pacific Ocean suggests that these expansive areas aren’t rigid slabs but weak spots being yanked apart by distant forces at the plate’s edge.
“The theory’s not carved in stone and we’re still finding new things,” says University of Toronto geophysicist Russell Pysklywec, who co-authored the study. […]
– Read More: endtimeheadlines.org
