Subhi Agrawal
Recent satellite data analyzed by Earth scientists at the University of Toronto reveals that the Earth’s crust has been continuously reshaped beneath the Konya Basin in the Central Anatolian Plateau of Türkiye over millions of years.
New Insights Into Plate Tectonics And Planetary Geology
The researchers explained that experimental simulations, along with geophysical, geodetic, and geological data, indicate that the basin has been experiencing mysterious sinking within the rising interior of the plateau.
This observation suggests the presence of a new class of plate tectonics, which could have implications for other planets lacking Earth-like plates, such as Mars and Venus.
The study, published in Nature Communications, explains that the region is experiencing sinking due to multi-stage lithospheric dripping, a phenomenon related to the instability of rocky material that forms Earth’s crust and upper mantle.
Major landforms, such as basins and mountains, are formed when dense rock fragments detach from the surface and sink into the more fluid layer of the planet’s mantle.
“Looking at the satellite data, we observed a circular feature at the Konya Basin where the crust is subsiding or the basin is deepening,” said lead author Julia Andersen, who is a PhD candidate at University of Toronto’s Department of Earth Sciences at the Faculty of Arts & Science, in the study, reported by Wionews.
“This prompted us to look at other geophysical data beneath the surface where we saw a seismic anomaly in the upper mantle and a thickened crust, telling us there is high-density material there and indicating a likely mantle lithospheric drip,” he added.
What’s Occurring Beneath Earth’s Mantle?
Discussing the Earth’s mantle, co-author of the study and Earth Sciences professor Russell Pysklywec stated, “As the lithosphere thickened and dripped below the region, it formed a basin at the surface that later sprang up when the weight below broke off and sank into the deeper depths of the mantle.”
We now see the process is not a one-time tectonic event and that the initial drip seems to have spawned subsequent daughter events elsewhere in the region, resulting in the curious rapid subsidence of the Konya Basin within the continuously rising plateau of Türkiye,” he continued.
Andersen added that the new findings suggest a link between basin formation and plateau uplift events. “Essentially, subsidence is occurring alongside the ongoing uplifting of the plateau,” he stated.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings