2023-10-17 06:00:14
A massive water reservoir hidden beneath the ocean floor near New Zealand could solve the mystery of the region’s slow-motion earthquakes.
A seismic image of the Hikurangi Plateau shows details of the Earth’s internal composition (Earth is the third planet in the Solar System in order of distance…).
Credit: Andrew Gase
Volumes of water comparable to a sea are trapped in volcanic rocks formed 120 to 125 million years ago. These rocks, buried under a thick layer of sediments, are located three kilometers under the ocean floor Pacific (The Pacific Ocean, which extends over an area of ​​180,000,000 km², is the ocean…). A team of researchers, led by Andrew Gase of the University of Texas, mapped a fault along the island’s east coast. (An island is an area of ​​land surrounded by water, whether this water is that of a river, a…) of the North of New Zealand (New Zealand is a country of ‘Oceania, in the southwest of the Pacific Ocean,…). They discovered that these ancient rocks were abnormally “wet.” The porosity of the rocks could come from erosion by the shallow seas that surrounded the ancient volcanic plateau. This waterlogged land slowly transformed into clay over time, absorbing more water. The water reservoir was discovered 15 kilometers from the Hikurangi subduction zone, where the tectonic plate (The tectonic plates or Lithospheric plates are fragments of the lithosphere which…) of the Pacific plunges under the Australian plate. This friction produces “slow motion” earthquakes, also called “slow slip” events, which cause little damage in surface (A surface generally refers to the surface layer of an object. The term a…).
The Hikurangi Plateau is the remnant of volcanic eruptions that began 125 million years ago.
Credit: Andrew Gase
These “slow slip” events are often associated with buried water tanks. Water in rocks creates high pressure conditions that slow down the tectonic process (Tectonics (from the Greek “Ď„?κτων” or “tekt?n”…). According to a study published in the journal Science (La science (Latin scientia, “knowledge”) is, according to the dictionary…) Advances, this water reservoir could explain the “slow motion” earthquakes which occur every one or two years on the Hikurangi fault.
To confirm these findings, researchers are considering deep drilling into the ocean floor.
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#underground #sea #trapped #bottom #Pacific #Ocean