7 months ago
Ancient Tethys Ocean Shaped Central Asia Before Himalayas
Scientists from the University of Adelaide found that a long-lost ocean called the Tethys Ocean helped shape the mountains in Central Asia a very long time ago.
This ocean was between big pieces of land called continental plates.
When these plates crashed into each other, the ocean disappeared, and the pressure from the crash made mountains.
This happened way before the Himalayas were formed.
The study shows that even though the ocean was far away, it still had a big effect on the land.
The mountains that formed back then looked like the ones in the western United States today.
The scientists also found that climate change and other processes didn't change the land much over the last 250 million years.
The old mountains from that time are the base of the mountains we see now.
The Tethys Ocean, which disappeared millions of years ago, played a major role in shaping Central Asia's mountain ranges.
The ocean's closure due to tectonic collisions between Gondwana and Eurasia created massive pressure that formed mountains and reactivated ancient fault lines.
Ancient oceanic subductions influenced the formation of Central Asia, proving Earth's systems are interconnected.
The resulting landscapes resembled the modern Basin-and-Range Province in the western United States and were present during the Cretaceous period.
Climate change and mantle processes had minimal influence on the Central Asian landscape over the last 250 million years.
- Who
- Researchers from the University of Adelaide
- What
- Discovered the Tethys Ocean's role in shaping Central Asia
- Where
- Central Asia, with influences extending to the Himalayas
- When
- During the Meso-Cenozoic era, with findings published recently
- Why
- To understand the geological history and formation of Central Asia's mountain ranges
Key facts
- Ancient Ocean
- Tethys Ocean
- Era
- Meso-Cenozoic
- Continental Plates
- Gondwana and Eurasia
- Timeframe
- Last 250 million years
- Study Journal
- Communications Earth & Environment
- Lead Author
- Dr. Sam Boone
- Co-Author
- Stijn Gloriem
- Institution
- University of Adelaide
Quotes
Stijn Gloriem
Co-author of the study
“It is thought that the extension in the Tethys, due to roll-back of subducting slabs of ocean crust, reactivated old suture zones into a series of roughly parallel ridges in Central Asia, up to thousands of kilometres away from the Himalaya collision zone.”
wionews.com
“During the Cretaceous period, dinosaurs would have seen a mountainous landscape as well, similar to the present-day Basin-and-Range Province in the western USA.”
wionews.com
Dr Sam Boone
Postdoctoral researcher at the University of Adelaide and lead author of the study
“We found that climate change and mantle processes had only a little influence on the Central Asian landscape, which persisted in an arid climate for much of the last 250 million years.”
wionews.com
