‘Lost’ tectonic plate called Resurrection hidden under the Pacific
Scientists have reconstructed a long-lost tectonic plate that may have given rise to an arc of volcanoes in the Pacific Ocean 60 million years ago.
The plate, dubbed Resurrection, has long been controversial among geophysicists, as some believe it never existed. But the new reconstruction puts the edge of the rocky plate along a line of known ancient volcanoes, suggesting that it was once part of the crust (Earth’s top layer) in what is today northern Canada.
“Volcanoes form at plate boundaries, and the more plates you have, the more volcanoes you have,” Jonny Wu, a geologist at the University of Houston, said in a statement. “Volcanoes also affect climate change. So, when you are trying to model the Earth and understand how climate has changed … you really want to know how many volcanoes there have been on Earth.”
Wu and his co-author, University of Houston geology doctoral candidate Spencer Fuston, used a computer model of Earth’s crust to “unfold” the movement of tectonic plates since the early Cenozoic, the geological era that began 66 million years ago. Geophysicists already knew that there were two plates in the Pacific at that time, the Kula plate and the Farallon plate.
Because lots of magma is present east of the former location of these plates in what is today Alaska and Washington, some geophysicists argued there was a missing piece in the puzzle — a theoretical plate they called Resurrection. This magma would have been left behind by volcanic activity at the plate’s edge.
All of these plates have long since dived beneath Earth’s crust in a process called subduction. Wu and Fuston used the computer reconstruction to undo this subduction, virtually raising the plates back to the surface and rewinding their motion. When they did, they found that Resurrection did indeed fit into the picture. They reported their findings Oct. 19 in the journal GSA Bulletin.
“When ‘raised’ back to the Earth’s surface and reconstructed, the boundaries of this ancient Resurrection tectonic plate match well with the ancient volcanic belts in Washington State and Alaska, providing a much sought-after link between the ancient Pacific Ocean and the North American geologic record,” Wu said.
Read more here
PRINCIPIA SCIENTIFIC INTERNATIONAL, legally registered in the UK as a company 
incorporated for charitable purposes. Head Office: 27 Old Gloucester Street, London WC1N 3AX.
Please DONATE TODAY To Help Our Non-Profit Mission To Defend The Scientific Method.
Trackback from your site.
Tom O
| #
More “science” created by the magic of computers. If you program correctly, you can create anything you want, but not necessarily science or the truth.
Reply
Jerry Krause
| #
Hi Tom O,
Right on. The magic computers only do what someone programs them to do; which has nothing to do with what Nature actually does.
Have a good day, Jerry
Reply
Jerry Krause
| #
Hi Tom O,
Your comment caused me to actually read Stephanie’s article.
The real problem is: “Geophysicists already knew that there were two plates in the Pacific at that time, the Kula plate and the Farallon plate.” Geophysicists knew nothing. And I have no idea how they ‘learned’ what they claimed to know.
Have a good day, Jerry
Reply
Tom O
| #
That has always been my point every since I gave up on science as a pursuit. We are in a world of simulation, either mathematical or inspirational. Because a group decides a position that something is “probably” true, doesn’t make it true. Theory is theory, and in so many areas of science these days, we cannot “prove” them.
Proxies are used as if they are absolute facts, not proxies, as example, and with the advent of computational power and graphical representation, we see incredible “proof” that the theory must be so. As for tectonic plate theory and Pangaea, I’ve always wondered what was the reason that the super continent existed for millions of years and then suddenly decided to break up and drift – sort of like from nothing came a super atom that exploded and created time and space. The Neal Adams “computer simulation” of the expanding Earth theory is equally plausible as far as creating the current continental configuration.
Reply
Roger Higgs
| #
“Your comment caused me to actually read Stephanie’s article.” Good grief, that must have taken all of 3 minutes. Commenting on scientific articles without actually reading them is much easier and faster.
Before you dismiss it as garbage, I strongly recommend also ‘actually’ reading the geological (plate tectonics) paper that Stephanie’s little summary is about, by Fuston and Wu, published by the Geological Society of America, by far the world’s most scientifically prestigious earth sciences organisation.
“The magic computers only do what someone programs them to do”. That’s too cynical, even for me. Yes, ‘garbage in-out’ computer models have been disgracefully abused by opportunistic ‘climate scientists’ and ‘virus experts’ who, directly or indirectly, work for the global-governance agenda of the wicked billionaire globalist controllers of the United Nations (IPCC, WHO), WEF (Davos), EU, MSM, etc., who know that a frightened populace (‘climate crisis’, ‘killer covid’) is a compliant one. Just look at all those needless and useless masks!
These hopelessly biased ‘experts’ have given science a very bad name. However, not all science has been corrupted. Geology, for example, is still untainted; although we geologists, as a group, have been shamefully hesitant to denounce the IPCC ‘man-made’ global-warming myth. LIkewise, the failure of millions more medical doctors to condemn the WHO’s non-existent coronavirus ‘pandemic’ is pathetic. Most doctors and scientists are presumably too scared (for their careers) to speak out.
As for “every (sic) since I gave up on science as a pursuit”, words fail.
Reply
JaKo
| #
Roger,
I wish you were right: “…Geological Society of America, by far the world’s most scientifically prestigious earth sciences organisation.” Great, however, as soon as the pork train start coming your way, even those prestigious geologists will heed and heel. I knew a few who wouldn’t, at least not right-away, but I would not bet on it over time.
As for medical doctors: some are in it for the money and just pretend giving a hoot about patients, truth etc. And even the ones who genuinely “care,” they’re still deeply indoctrinated by their schools, the so called CME and forced by the “official guidelines” for everything… Big pharma and the insurance companies (or provincial / state insurances), would not tolerate any dissent — you whether follow or you’re risking of being kicked out. Many tried and burned, ask Dr. Vernon Coleman.
But you’re still correct about “today’s science” gotten a bad name by all those opportunists and charlatans; I don’t think I (we) will live long enough to witness any meaningful Renaissance of Sciences…
No reason to cheer,
JaKo
Reply
Jerry Krause
| #
Hi Roger,
Book’s have been written about the rejection of the idea known as continental drift by American earth scientists (geologists?). So that no geologist, from any nation, dared to write about its possibility for nearly 50 years.
However, you write: “These hopelessly biased ‘experts’ have given science a very bad name. However, not all science has been corrupted. Geology, for example, is still untainted.”
Are you trying to rewrite history?
Have a good day, Jerry
Reply
Robert Beatty
| #
As it happens, I have been conducting some research into seismic activity in that region during the 20 century, as shown at http://www.bosmin.com/earthquakes20centry2.bmp
The yellow circled area shows a concentration of seismicity where the Resurrection plate may be still active under the NW region of Canada.
If I had to bet, I would agree with the University of Houston in their research finding.
Reply
Jerry Krause
| #
Hi Robert,
The problem I have is why cannot the three (Kula, Resurrection, Farallon) be an imagined part of a much larger plate? I read that in Oregon we are likely to experience major earthquakes in the near (?) future. But I also read about the minor earthquakes that are being observed (sensed) at the same time near the coast. This at the same time I read that the location of the ‘greatest’ tension, which is the result of the ‘drift ‘of the really large plates, is located well off shore.
And, I believe we know that the mountain ranges which parallel the west coast of the Americas have a volcanic origin and not the direct result of the drift of continental drift. In fact I understand that the drift of the continents is the result of volcanic activity in mid-oceans, which force the plates apart as the molten lave cools.
Now, I believe we have a NATURAL model of this type of activity (liquids freezing to form solids) each winter on the Arctic Ocean. Hopefully the website will not be removed from the internet so you can view photos and brief descriptions of what has been observed during the past year of the grand MOSAiC Expedition. And the basic system being studied involves ‘small ice floes and an ice sheet which eventually covers the area if the entire Arctic Ocean. Pressure ridges being formed as the small ice floes push up against each other.as leads (crakes) spontaneously (?) form in a previously continuous ice sheet (or very large ice floe).
And the fundamental forces involved during the polar winter are centripetal (due to the rotating earth), the gravity of the moon when it is visible during the polar winter, and the force of the localized surface winds which continuously blow as the Expedition never reported a totally calm period but also no winds much greater than 40 miles/hr.
These are just some things which I have read in the past several years.and pondered and concluded as the result of what I have read relative to my life experiences.
And it is a fact that by the time I have completed my composing I an too tired to proofread. I leave that up to the reader.
Have a good day, Jerry
Reply
Tom Anderson
| #
Jerry,
You mean “centrifugal,” don’t you? My 2d ed Webster’s International (more unequivocal than the 3d) defines “centripetal” as “proceeding toward the center.” It can’t mean “from the center” too.
Reply
Jerry Krause
| #
Hi Tom,
If you are are on a rotating merry-go-around and you place a marble on it ‘level’ floor, which way will the marble roll: toward the center or away from the center? Long ago I was corrected by a physicist who taught me there is no such force as a centrifugal force. The tendency to move away from the center of a ‘rotating’ body is an effect (result) of what is correctly termed termed the centripetal force. For when I place a marble on the level floor of the merry-go-around it begins to move. Which requires that there be a force acting upon it which causes it to move.
F=ma. Yes it is a difficult concept to understand until observe an experiment such as this Which is why the physicist had to correct me. We have to resist the centripetal force if we are not to be thrown off a horizontally rotating body. So we feel the force with which we resist the centripetal force. I am only trying to help you understand that which most people misunderstand. (including the authors of Webster’s dictionary.)
Have a good day, Jerry
.
Reply
Jerry Krause
| #
Hi Robert,
Another thing. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tornados are very localized events and short lived events. Hence, I conclude it is the every day little events that are generally ignored (overlooked) that need to be really studied and explained (understood).
Have a good day, Jerry
Reply