Breakup of Supercontinent Pangea Cooled Mantle and Thinned Crust
January 17, 2017
The oceanic crust produced by the Earth today is significantly thinner than crust made 170 million years ago during the time of the supercontinent Pangea, according to University of Texas at Austin researchers.
The thinning is related to the cooling of Earthโs interior prompted by the splitting of the supercontinent Pangaea, which broke up into the continents that we have today, said Harm Van Avendonk, the lead author of the study and a senior research scientist at The University of Texas Institute for Geophysics. The findings, published inย Nature Geosciencesย on Dec. 12, shed light on how plate tectonics has influenced the cooling of the Earthโs mantle throughout geologic history.
Astrobiology Magazine, Dec. 16, 2016
Featuring:ย Harm Van Avendonk, senior research scientist, Institute for Geophysics, Jackson School of Geosciences
Joshua โBudโ Davis, Ph.D. student, Jackson School of Geosciences
Jennifer Harding, Ph.D student, Jackson School of Geosciences
Media Releases
The @guardian's @dpcarrington was with @UTGeophysics this summer reporting on a pioneering @UTAustin-led mission to explore Greenland's glaciers underwater.
Read his report here:
With @WHOI @UFGeology @RutgersDMCS @MarineInst @UTexasResearch
.@business spoke with the Jackson School's Jay Banner about how climate change and population growth are taking a toll on Texas' water.
โDemand goes way up, supply goes way down, which is not a sustainable future for Texas water resources,โ Banner said.
In the stacks:
The role of women in the history of geology / edited by C. V. Burek and B. Higgs. Geological Society, 2007. #geology #geologists #history