Category Archives: Plate Tectonics

California Great Central Valley as a Cretaceous Sea of Cortez

Posted on February 18, 2013 by gymnosperm

I was travelling the world as I often do in Google Earth, pondering how strange it is that the Hawaiian Seamount chain created a gravity low its entire length, when I noticed this: Probably just because gravity lows are a nice deep … Continue reading →

Posted in Geography, Geology, Gravity Anomalies, Paleogeography, Plate Tectonics | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Ring Around Antarctica

Posted on January 8, 2013 by gymnosperm

There are lots of rings around Antarctica. Sailors know the circum-Antarctic winds as the fearsome fifties, the screaming sixties, etc. These winds are not impeded by any land and they drive the circum-Antarctic currents in the Southern Ocean. The surface currents … Continue reading →

Posted in Geography, Paleogeography, Plate Tectonics, True Polar Wander | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Seafloor Isochrons Place a Hard Limit on Crustal Disintegration from the Chicxulub Impact

Posted on January 6, 2013 by gymnosperm

I always thought the entire form of the Gulf of Mexico might be the crater from the Chicxulub impact reputed to have wasted the dinosaurs. My imagination runs with that name. So much to work with. Chicxyclub…well, Club Med impact … Continue reading →

Posted in Asteroid Impacts, Geography, Geology, Magnetic Reversals, Oceanography, Plate Tectonics | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Charybdis and the Oldest Ocean Floor on Earth

Posted on January 6, 2013 by gymnosperm

A few years back there was a much ballyhooed drilling effort to find some 175 million year old sea floor touted as the “oldest”. Incorrecto qui mo sabe. That particular ocean floor is interesting in its own right (see our … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Geography, Geology, Paleogeography, Plate Tectonics | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Great Mysteries of Nature Nobody Seems to be Thinking About

Posted on December 28, 2012 by gymnosperm

This list will be changed from time to time and some mysteries will be developed into posts. In some sense they all speak to our lack of understanding of the magnetic and gravitational forces that bear down on us. 1. … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Geography, Geology, Magnetic Reversals, Plate Tectonics | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments