Why Supercontinents Self-Destruct


	Why Supercontinents Self-Destruct

invictus

5-17-2007 11:09 AM

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tags:

earth sciences, geology, pangea, volcanoes, continents, earth, science

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/7af4c206-fea5-4fc8-b413-8169e5f0c654/CA6B3E5F-4E09-46E4-BEA4-476218BBA75D/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/05/01/supercontinent_pla.html?category=dinosaurs&guid=20070501094500&dcitc=w19-506-ak-0003" href="http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/05/01/supercontinent_pla.html?category=dinosaurs&guid=20070501094500&dcitc=w19-506-ak-0003" style="font-size: 11px;">dsc.discovery.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/05/01/supercontinent_pla.html?category=dinosaurs&guid=20070501094500&dcitc=w19-506-ak-0003"><SPAN class="primeColor">Why Supercontinents Self-Destruct</SPAN></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/05/01/supercontinent_pla.html?category=dinosaurs&guid=20070501094500&dcitc=w19-506-ak-0003"><div align="center"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/dsc.discovery.com/img/229DB8A9-8673-403B-95BA-729BE8C0D3BD" alt="Busting Up" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/05/01/supercontinent_pla.html?category=dinosaurs&guid=20070501094500&dcitc=w19-506-ak-0003">Earth's mega-volcanic eruptions may be the direct result of mega continents getting in the way.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/05/01/supercontinent_pla.html?category=dinosaurs&guid=20070501094500&dcitc=w19-506-ak-0003"><P>A new computer simulation that looks at how heat moves out from the center of our planet confirms the idea that the supercontinent Pangea could have acted like a thermal dam to that heat flow.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/05/01/supercontinent_pla.html?category=dinosaurs&guid=20070501094500&dcitc=w19-506-ak-0003"><P>When the dam burst, Pangea experienced a gigantic, continent-melting flood of basalt lava that not only busted the place up, but likely vented enormous amounts of carbon into the atmosphere and caused rapid global warming — all at the time of the dinosaurs' demise.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/05/01/supercontinent_pla.html?category=dinosaurs&guid=20070501094500&dcitc=w19-506-ak-0003"><P>The big question, of course, is whether the big continental blanket and fewer ice cubes could build up enough heat to melt a lot of rock and split up Pangea. The computer simulation indicates it could.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/05/01/supercontinent_pla.html?category=dinosaurs&guid=20070501094500&dcitc=w19-506-ak-0003"><P>If it's correct, then supercontinents are their own worst enemies — literally creating the conditions which lead to their own demise.</P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/CA6B3E5F-4E09-46E4-BEA4-476218BBA75D/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>