Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Dissipation of heat from the mantle is the original source of the energy required to drive plate tectonics through convection or large scale upwelling and doming. As a consequence, a powerful source generating plate motion is the excess density of the oceanic lithosphere sinking in subduction zones.
The Colorado Plateau which includes the Grand Canyon is the result of broad tectonic uplift followed by river erosion. [4] When mountains rise slowly, either due to orogenic uplift or other processes (e.g., rebound after glaciation), an unusual feature known as a water gap may occur.
Satellite image of the Tibetan Plateau between the Himalayan mountains to the south and the Taklamakan Desert to the north. In geology and physical geography, a plateau (/ p l ə ˈ t oʊ, p l æ ˈ t oʊ, ˈ p l æ t oʊ /; French:; pl.: plateaus or plateaux), [1] [2] also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the ...
If the viscosity of the upwelling asthenosphere is greater than that of the mantle lithosphere, delamination will stop. The upwelling asthenosphere forms two chilled, solid boundary layers on the top and bottom of the sill layer. This reduces the thickness of the portion of the lowermost crust which behaves viscously.
The volume of magma that is intruded and/or erupted in a given area of lithospheric extension depends on two variables: (1) the availability of pre-existing melt in the crust and mantle; and (2) the amount of additional melt supplied by decompression upwelling.
There are five main types of mountains: volcanic, fold, plateau, fault-block, and dome. A more detailed classification useful on a local scale predates plate tectonics and adds to these categories. [ 6 ]
Upwelling intensity depends on wind strength and seasonal variability, as well as the vertical structure of the water, variations in the bottom bathymetry, and instabilities in the currents. In some areas, upwelling is a seasonal event leading to periodic bursts of productivity similar to spring blooms in coastal waters. Wind-induced upwelling ...
It is a result of crustal extension due to mantle upwelling, gravitational collapse, crustal thickening, or relaxation of confining stresses. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] The extension results in the thinning and deformation of the upper crust, causing it to fracture and create a series of long parallel normal faults .