it planet Earth is a living planet
even solid rock and moving as it seems
as an exciting life of its own home
but rocks live in geologic time their
lives
spend billions of years we humans can
barely glimpsed the living Earth
inactions 724 Victor
430 W box yeah I can you give me an old
faithful prediction please
ok copy
thank you itself 120
we're geological wonders through a
landscape
the power the birth is most intense
you're drawn to these places
would make them the centerpieces of our
world's great parks
here on deep connection with planet
Earth is restoring
the rocks we live on make up the birds
uppermost layer
its continental crust the in recent
years scientists have been
new insight into the nature of these
rocks this is their story
it is a new story to us but it is really
is
ancient as the earth itself I'll
the continental crust is the part of the
earth we walk on it is so familiar that
we often take for granted
there's crust is intimately linked to
the sustainability of all human life
it's from the earth's crust that we get
the mineral resources that we depend
upon
swells oil resources our water supply is
linked to the earth's crust
the minerals that plants require two to
grow and to feed on
on come from the earth's crust and so
our ecosystems and all
are living matter is dependent on your
scratched but
be worth did not always have a hard
crust on the planet first formed about
four and a half billion years ago
its surface was a Morton see you fire
the earth formed as part of the Big Bang
the big explosion resulted in the
formation of our solar system
mass was strewn out all through space
began to accumulate together
and probably the initial or was a pretty
hot
pretty inhospitable place and
probably initially fairly homogeneous
just
think it is a very hot material
eventually started to cool down
and probably in powders gone are layer
cool air for it wasn't until some form a
plate tectonics began that we probably
begin to build
continental crust to get Canada across
summit this down began to break often
fall down into the
Potter in site interior partier that
probably
began to mail as it melted the melt that
came off was slightly
different kinda rock it was probably
lighter
loaded up to this down to the existing
crust
and born volcanoes but
volcanic lava hardened to rock
forming the first continental crust good
it is now 35 miles thick in places the
continental crust is much thicker than
the crushed under the ocean
which is less than nine miles that
overall the crust is just a thin film on
the planet
making up only one percent of the
Earth's total side
below the crust is the mental which is
made up denser
harder rock that the center of the earth
is the core
a spear a buyer that is half the total
size at the plan I'll
a real good way to think about the
earth's crust I think a real good
analogy
is dis think about in a and if you think
about the shell in the eighties
very thin and their relationship to the
size of the egg and inside the egg
there's a clear white the eight you can
think about that in a sense like the
Earth's mantle
the second layer down and in the middle
of the a guess
is the ok and that's a lot like the your
score because that's about half the size
of the acres in the open
in our her score takes about half the
size but the earth's crust is where we
live in is that
outermost shell and that we derive
all that we need for life and to make
life livable
civilizations have been built with
resources from the earth's crust
knowledge about the nature of the Cross
has been the Keystone
today scientists are probing ever deeper
into the mysteries over
this is the Katy B drill site in Bavaria
Germany
using the largest onshore drill rig in
the world
scientists and engineers have drill
30,000 feet into the earth's crust
it is the second deepest research drill
hole in the world
after one that measures 40,000 feet in
russia
wanna these rock chords come from depp's
have several miles below the surface
swim KTB scientists have begun to
analyze them with the most advanced
methods ROC analysis
but they come from a very special part
of the earth's crust
here we on old
crust in very old contender crust where
usually only drool
very shallow holes for what element
early posits and
in this old cross lies the key to the
understanding
of the evolution of the yours the oceans
are quite young
200 million years maximum but the
the continents up to four point five
billion years old
and in order to understand how the earth
everything came about
we we have to look into this the well
into this deep Boyd crust and this is
why we
choose this place here we need indirect
up
and direct place observation and this is
all a
grill
in a very few places scientist can get
to engine rocks without the aid of
special equipment
in the Beartooth Mountains of Montana
the rocks are right at the surface
I'll hearing impaired his we have some
illness rocks in the world
we have remnants approx formed as old as
four billion years ago
in these are mixed with somewhat younger
rocks im
magnetic origin than ever range in ages
about 2.8
to 2.75 billion years
many of these ancient rocks are made of
granite granite contains the radioactive
elements uranium which decays tulip
this allows it to be dated with the
machine called a mass spectrometer
by measuring these elements in rocks
from the bear tooth
scientists confirm that they were among
the oldest known rocks on earth
I'll the rocks in the bear tooth for
four billion years old
but the earth is 4.5 billion years I V
why is the first half billion years at
the group's history missing from the
rock record
I'll there's a dynamic planet and
we have competing processes in the form
plate tectonics driving the rock cycle
and we can
processes at the surface and your the
hydrologic cycle
and those two cycles conspire to wipe
out the early history of the Earth
and so it's very rare to actually find
pieces rock that are
actually Soham
the beer to serb parliament agent
builder moms that includes the Grand
Teton ranch in Wyoming
studies on the rocks in these old
Rangers revealed that the face of the
earth has changed dramatically over time
this is key evidence in support of
geology is most important theory
plate tectonics
plate tectonics theory holds that the
earth's crust is broken into huge slabs
called plates
the face of the earth changes because
the plates flowed like raps on semi
molten rocks below
the force that moves the plates is he'd
which emanates from the very heart of
the earth
ultimately the energy that goes into
driving the plates
around is derived from the interior the
earth
and it's just a result other radioactive
decay
the initial initial elements that were
involved in the formation and the
nasa became the earth
to understand how he drives the plates
scientist simulate the extreme
conditions that exist at the center of
the earth
where temperatures reached seven
thousand degrees Fahrenheit
connected the achieve these conditions
with the help of tiny bits of Diamyd
we can recreate conditions in the
Earth's core by using a diamond anvil cell
we can actually squeeze materials
between the tips have to dine angles
and we can achieve pressures on the
order of three or four million times the
pressure at the earth's surface
we can also achieve high temperatures in
the diamond anvil cell by heating with
an
infrared laser in
because they want to leave here
scientists have learned that intense
heat from the earth's core and mantle
rises up toward the crust this causes
the metal to circulate along the bottom
of the crust
it is this circulation but moves
continents around
and profoundly changes their shape and
size
heat circulating deep in the earth can
cause the cross to pull apart
all rift they'll
in North America a rift SX the homeland
at the native problem people in New
Mexico
the global people who lived in the Rio
Grande rift zone for thousands of years
they have retained beach in traditions
and many still live in communities
called problems
the Rio Grande rift is named after the
great Rio Grande River
which cuts a deep gorge down the middle
of the rift zone the river follows a
broad valley in the Rift which is
flanked on both sides by lofty mountain
ranges
this topography is common in rift zones
as the earth's crust poles apart it
stretches and becomes thinner
magma swells up from a mental below
causing the cross to bowl choppered and
break apart broken crossed all blocks
rise
fall and tilt sideways creating valleys
and mountains at the surface
what on the cross poles apart for
millions of years
belizean Rangers stretched to the
horizon
this is the case in the Basin and Range
province of North America
after spreading apart for $17 million
years sections at the Basin and Range
grown wider by one hundred percent the
Basin and Range
bans drying desert country but the
spreading bulging crossed has been
worked up so high that
it invites no during the winter
most valleys in the basement Range
Province are in close by mountains
rain and melted snow drain into these
quotations inform lakes
like Mona lake in California the
on the shores of Mono Lake stand on rock
formations called
to for towers tutors are made of
counseling
deposited by underwater Springs the
towers were one summer
but siphoning of lake water for human
use has left the two firs high and dry
the presence of calcium rich brings
reveals another feature of crustal
spreading
volcanic activity when there's rifting
there's typically a break in the crest
at the crest itself has broken apart
and prior to breaking apart it stretches
then
stands and so as multi materials make
their way
up it's very easy for him to get through
the crust
and as they come through the crust we
see them
as well K Nelson
in the past member
volcanic eruptions have blanketed the
rift zones of North America with the
players have lava and ash
now hardened to colourful rock
book and a crock was a building material
for the engine problem people at the Rio
Grande grid
in some places clips a volcanic rock
form the back wall of dwellings
a volcanic rock called
carports often of the cave dwellers
could carve into it with simple hand tools
if crustal spreading
persist it can split a comment in half
ocean waters move in this happened in
Africa
where the famous African Rift opened a
gap between the compliment and Saudi
Arabia
the Red Sea was born
in North America
the Rio Grande rift and Basin and Range
Province may or may not progressed to
the ocean stage
but the crust is spreading apart today
creating a lively rugged landscape one
of the liveliest places associated with
crustal spreading lies just north of the
basement range problems
at a place called yellowstone but
Yellowstone National Park is world
famous for its bizarre volcanic
landscape
on there are no active volcanoes here
today but pastor options are among the
largest ever produced on earth
below yellowstone
a column apart magma rises from the
metal to within a few miles above the
Earth's surface
the subterranean magma fuels hundreds of
geysers in the park
up thousands of other thermal features
are found here
in fact yellowstone park contains the
greatest concentration of magma driven
features in the world
at any time Magnum a once again rise to
the surface at yellowstone
geysers will be replaced by volcanoes
and memnoch the russians have lava
and ash
pastor options at yellowstone have
thickened the group crossed with
thousands of feet a volcanic ash in
blood the entire dept at the colorful
Yellowstone River Canyon has made a
volcanic rocks
where lava flows pile up in the canyon
the river cascades 102 feet over
waterfalls
yellowstone dramatically shows all
Balkan -ism thickens the car metal cross
to the surface
recently geologist to discover the
Bakken -ism also thickens the crushed in
a different way
from the bottom down up
some well
this is the CMO ball canning field a
part of the Basin and Range Province in
California's Mojave Desert I'll
I'll
here geologist comb the flights have
seen as dormant volcanoes
looking for special rocks called
Zealand's I'll
very special localities like the cement
volcanic field have
great permanent journalists
tens of thousands so very important
localities
you try to piece together what happened
a firm and lower crust
I'll words and laugh
the roots in the words analyst the
indicate foreign
rock fragments and the remains for and &
Lifshitz rock
the SIR rocks that do not
belong to the to the lab for that
brought them to the surface
single its were once part of the bottom
of the earth's crust
and even part of the metal they formed
the deep
inter-lining a volcanic condoms
on volcanoes come to life rising magma
rips
chunks of rock from aligning and carries
them to the surface
when you see the law at the circus
you'll notice different looking rocks
and
maybe white little white and black rocks
that come from deep in
crest or those fascinating little green
beauties little granular green clusters
which are pieces in the mantle
Z looks are important because they give
us a direct look at the bottom side of
the com-
with the help of machines like the
electron microprobe
single its reveal a fascinating new
picture at the bottom of the earth's
crust
home the traditional series called
the crust ends abruptly were and meets
the denser rocks at the mantle
Disney sharp boundaries nickname
the mobile and
but seen a live show that the model was
a bit messier involved Canuck regions
but
magma from the metal often rises to the
bottom of the Cross but then goes no
further
the mobile is obscured scientists
recently learned that this was the start
of an important process of crustal
thickening
called underplaying underplaying us a
process by which
magma that's generated in the arse
mantle is and into the earth's crust
but at the base of the crust normally we
think I've magma as rising on way
through the crust
and coming out at the surface and
volcanoes but
when underplaying and sediment making it
all the way to the surface
actually stops and ponds right at the
base of the crust work contact the upper
mantle
eventually
the magma from the metal hardens to rock
and becomes new continental crust
in this way under plating makes the
crust grow thicker
from the bottom down
it turns out that under plating is added
new cross to the bottom apartment
all over the place here in the Alps have
northern Italy
geologists can actually see where this
happen billions of years ago
this is the you bring your bottles of a
rug place where geologist must also be
expert rock climbs
be a bruise on his near the boundary
where to crustal plates me
the European and African plains
in millions have years ago Italy
a part of the African Plate was an
island in the ancient Mediterranean Sea
the African Plate then move north
causing italy did dock with the carton
of
of
in during the collision
rocks in the ancient sea floor had
nowhere to go but up
now rise more than 12,000 feet above sea
level
don't mind Ranger northern Italy
geologist once thought that the entire
thickness of the Cross grows out of the
ground here
exposing the mall the Ab Ripper panels
on was a place with the mall
could be /c the ball was thought to be
so shop online that one could put a
finger on
it appeared that crushed rocks were on
one side
mantle rocks on the other but the more
geologist study the area
the less that's the reason true your so
malval including
he began to look as though all the rocks
here were crustal rocks
perhaps this was one of those places
where metal rocks have been transformed
in the crustal rocks by underplaying
to find out for sure geologist took
hundreds rock samples back to the lab
for analysis
okay man I think we're ready for the
pressure vessel
her in lab experiments
the Umbria rocks were subjected to the
extreme conditions that exist at the
bottom of the earth's crust
temperatures down their reach 1200
degrees Fahrenheit and pressures are
10,000 times greater that the serbs yep
best with you these experiments confirm
that underplaying
did indeed take place at the Ab Ripper
bottles own scientists have also learned
that
under pleading and other processes
happening in the lower crust
can have major effects at the earth's
surface but we know that there's lots of
things that go
on down the lower crust that the earth
and many of these things have a profound
influence on
us as humans and surface at their rocks
and minerals
change when when they're subjected to
heat and pressure
rocks can melt the minerals in the rocks
can
in I change themselves into into dancer
minerals and so the rocks themselves
become heavier
and all these things manifest themselves
on the surface of the yr
rocks melting give rise to magnitude
replicated in explosive volcanism
minerals and rocks can dehydrate giving
rise to water and co2 which
are implicated in formation gold and
silver
copper deposits all of these
processes which have their origins deep
in the crust
have manifest themselves on the surface
of the earth in ways that are
very important to our survival as human
beings or
to the longevity of our civilizations
in the San Francisco Bay Area the crust
mantle boundary plays a ruled in a
destructive scenario
of
all the Loma Prieta earthquake up 1989
damage was heavy in and around San
Francisco but the quakes
at the center was more than sixty miles
away in between
relatively minor damage occurred up
it turns out that loose soils were a
factor in the severity of ground shaking
in San Francisco
but scientists think there may have been
another factor
some seismic waves generated during the
quake
went down struck the Mojo at an angle
and then bounced back under sent
Francisco
apparently these bouncing waves were
more destructive than waves traveling
straight through the earth's crust
a large quake is predicted to strike the
heavily populated
east side of San Francisco Bay which
lies above the Hayward Fault
because so many people are at risk
earthquake scientist conducted an
experiment to predict what might happen
when that quick finally strikes from the
1989 Loma Prieta
earthquake we noticed that indeed
seismic energy does
go down strike mojo and come back and
any them
system we wanted to see here in the East
Bay along the Hayward Fault
if a similar type none would occur
and that since we can't wait for the
next earthquake
one other thing so there's one out
generated around we
but explosive sources in high
probability areas areas
we know are very likely to generate a
large earthquake in the near future
and we wanted to see how the energy with
travel
from those locations to North in
Berkeley
Oakland and at the populated areas and
also to the south and the
San Jose area 7 6
for for 3
to 1
from the sunday with people would have a
a large earthquake sign
energy from that earthquake with travel
down
strike the Mojo and surface underneath
the Oakland Berkeley area
I'm and from our indications this
then shaking would be very intense much
more so
then was observed from the 1989 Loma
Prieta earthquake coming on the San
Francisco
up to scientist earthquakes are a source
of valuable information
when a big quake occurs anywhere on
Earth scientist get a glimpse at the
entire
inner structure of the planet but most
of what we know
about the Earth's deep interior has been
derived from studies a birth weights
summer the deeper search quakes occur
quite deep 700 kilometers deep
and waves just like throwing a rock into
a pond water they
the earthquakes release energy create
waves these ways travel
all the way through the year through the
center the earth their recording on the
other side of the world
and by studying these waves have
traveled this is the job the
seismologists turning them around the
world we've learned that the interior
this layered it's not just one single
homogeneous mass but its comprise a
player's at different compositions
am
in while
earthquake reveal a rough picture of the
planet's interior scientists often need
more detailed information about the
earth's crust
one other methods of getting it is
through aeromagnetic surveys
up
the instruments in the
specially-designed plane detects the
magnetic fields in crustal rocks
cautions decade
reviews
ok
many rocks in the cross contain magnetic
minerals such as magnet to
by analyzing the magnetic variation to
these rocks
scientists can detect unseen geologic
features very
deep in the Earth's crust
them
the plane flies low and slow over the
terrain to collect data and
I'm recently
an aeromagnetic survey was flown over
North America's west coast
the objective to explore the differences
between continental and oceanic crust
as flight lines have data are pieced
together on a map
an incredibly complex picture of the
earth's crust on full
slow
yet there is no heed to this complexity
in the subdued to rain around Seattle
Washington a major West Coast City
it is only through magnetic surveys
and other geologic studies that the
startling subterranean seen beneath the
west coast Israel the
to crustal plates
overlap each other below Seattle one
plate makes up the ocean floor
and where it meets the continent it
bends and dives underneath it
this is called a subduction zone
sometimes the two plates lurched toward
each other unleashing the tremendous job
at the surface
on
on
it
on
Good Friday 1964 on
North America's strongest quake on
record struck near Anchorage Alaska
leveling the seaside city so tremendous
was the shock but it was felt in Florida
some 5,000 miles away the Alaska quake
was a subduction zone earthquake
we need the mountainous terrain around
Anchorage the group is restless
here the pacific ocean floor subducting
below the calm
the most powerful earthquakes on her
third triggered by subduction of the
earth's crust
a subduction zone runs along North
America's west coast
from alaska along the coast of Canada
all the way to keep them in the scene
when California
subduction scopes a beautiful rugged
coastline when it occurs at the Commons
age
this is because over time the subducting
plate grinds forcefully on the plate
above
as it slides underneath the top
leadership
upward in response of
mountain ranges are built along the
coast like the Olympic range in
washington
after millions of years the subducting
plate sinks deep into the hot metal
where it begins to melt magma forms and
sometimes rises through ruptures in the
plant a bomb
this creates another powerful force
caused by subduction
but
on
Saint Helens in washington erupted meet
you 1980
subduction triggered the eruption which
devastated the landscape for miles in
all directions
I'm I'm a dense forest was blown over by
the blast
and buried under pick players a volcanic
ash mount saint helens is one of many
powerful volcanoes that were built by
subduction along North America's west
coast
majestic Mount Rainier stands 50 miles
from Seattle
up Mark Baker Washington rises near the
us-canadian border
to the South crater lake an organ was a
huge volcanic peak before an eruption
blew its top of
seven thousand years ago way
many times in the geologic past these
volcanoes have erupted far more
powerfully than mount saint helens
as long as subduction
drives the crustal plates below be
sleeping giants will surely awaken again
and again
the granite domes the assembly National
Park in California
mimic the shape of the volcanic peaks in
the pacific northwest
subduction created both but the domes
abusive a deformed in a different way
granite is a rock that owes its
existence to subduction
it forms when a subducting plate melts
and magma rises up through the overlying
plight but the magma often fails to make
it to the surface and a volcanic
eruption
instead it cools and hardens deep within
the crust
forming granite this is called
a granite batholith well
this is the process that form your
seventies granted
we see these rocks today because a roach
in strip thousands of feet of birth
of the top of the Sierra Nevada
batholith
another granite batholith was exposed by
erosion in the state a vital
but geologist working in the area were
puzzled to find rocks that were formed
by subduction
subduction generally occurs at the
Educomp but these rocks are 350 miles
away from the nearest coastline to the
west
how to the end up so far inland
clues came from the rugged hell's canyon
area just to the west to be Idaho
batholith
on the banks of the Snake River
geologist found huge piles a volcanic
rocks called
pillow lavas
these rocks formed where molten lava
poured into the ocean but
pillow lavas are forming today on the
Island of Hawaii
lover is arriving from a small tent on
the volcano killer whale
from this fiery cauldron mall thinkers
have lava flowing underground tunnels to
the Pacific Ocean shoreline
world
underwater the lava seems to be fighting
to stay mold but it cools quickly
hardening into pillow shape rock way
well
well
when they found the same kinds rocks and
hell's canyon geologist at a problem
a crucial ingredient in the rocks
formation the ocean
was missing these rock scene wildly out
of place
1
for their work in Hells Canyon you would
more rocks that had formed in the ocean
these rocks are really rich in the
maybe a possible there thing on that one
here's another one
fossil so creatures that live on
tropical coral reefs were found
alongside the volcanic rocks
measure
coral reefs only formed near the equator
but hells canyon is thousands of miles
north at the acquitted
geologist for now certain that the rocks
and hell's canyon were formed in a
far-off
exotic location at that time
the landscape look much different than
it does now in fact we think that there
were probably chains
or chains islands out in the North
asian-pacific
we don't even know exactly where they
were but
so different than what we see today in
Hells Canyon and you can probably think
about a
a stringer violins maybe 20 or 30 a.m.
out in the ocean
maybe for several hundred miles some of
which had bought enough
once in a while Gold Box deals with iraq
and when they erupted
the more power on
through things in the air probably 8
10 twenty miles on funny blot out the
Sun for a while they were so explosive
but the debris that we see from those
volcanoes
are mostly what I've been happy on
in Hells Canyon for the injured hell's
canyon islands to move from the tropics
all the way to their present location in
ido there must have been profound
movements of the earth's crust or plates
and
about $130 million years ago the west
coast of North America was located in
western Idaho and
the volcanic islands of Hells Canyon
we're a group of islands
offshore the mainland a subduction zone
existed along the coast
as the ocean played subducted below the
comment the injured islands which were
attached to the moving plate
moved closer and closer to the coast
the
finally the island's collided with the
compound
when the island's joined the common it
took a long time
it may have taken a hundred million
years for the
process to occur a small and if we live
we wouldn't even know is occurring
and even during the time the dinosaurs
probably about as long as the dinosaurs
lived is how long it took
for these islands to joined to North
America
the
subduction has been active ever since
bringing in more islands and parts of
the sea floor
the the west coast
North America grew larger bit by bit
these new pieces of continental crust
recalled
exotic touring well
in alaska at the edge of the original
Continental landmasses
sits mountain Ali North America's
highest null
to the south and west all the land is
exotic added to the comment
by subduction it
anchorage is built on the Chugach
stirring a beautiful exotic land that
was once part of the ocean floor
farther south along the Canadian girls a
huge island will become a new exotic
terrain of North America
subduction is pushing Vancouver Island
closer and closer to the mainland
and eventually they will collide
Vancouver Island might be renamed
the Vancouver peninsula
my scientists now believe that much of
western North America is exotic
in general most herbal and west to the
American and Canadian Rocky Mountains
is made a big Xotic continental crust
the rockies themselves were created when
subduction
first began millions of years ago at
that time the comment ended here
and it had a relatively flat coastline
but when the oceanic plate began to dive
below the comment
coastal lands were shocked upward to
create this majestic
range of Martin's ok
western North America is perhaps the
world's best example of a common
pieced together by tectonic forces
subduction
rifting and under plating all played a
part in this drama
love Continental group
the and
wat tectonic forces create the
continental crust where the cross shows
itself for the service
a difference in a forces around the
world scolding
carving and even destroying this
tectonic handiwork
what
these are the fortunes overruled
the boulders
erosional artist is water it works on
the cross to the former waterfalls
rivers and rainy
wanna be Europe's most dramatic water
sculpted to rains is found in the
southwestern United States
and good
head
this is Bryce Canyon in southern Utah
it is part of the Colorado Plateau a
great blog
the earth's crust that was parched
upward by plate tectonic forces
and
water carve this very Lansing in the
soft Red Rocks albright's
in some areas of the Colorado Plateau
running water cuts deep canyons through
solids and stop
at Canyon de chez geology students get a
powerful lesson in the processes have
Canyon formation
this land here was all
horizontal but their streams running
through it
and there is cholera uplift the Colorado
Plateau
and when this up what is happening this
year is still running through creating
this came to say
so we can do so here today in Mystic
quite on time million two years in
as students explore the geology of
Canyon the Shi'a
they discover something unusual in the
cliffs above
up
centuries ago Native American people
built their dwellings in the knock some
sense dawn clips
marched caves a carved out by the
combined forces of surface water
and groundwater 0 well
well
and
and
and
cool the grandparent all canyons is the
Grand Canyon in Arizona
cool
it is almost too much to believe that
this mile-deep spectacle was sculpted by
water
but in geologic time
the years are many the Colorado River
has worked with al
rest through the ages some
well
when water freezes to Weis another
powerful larosa
forces created
glaciers got the earth's surface with a
stronger hand and flowing water
well
well
well
well
up
I'll glaciers covered vast parts of the
earth during the ice ages
which ended about 10,000 years ago up
when they retreated they left the
distinctive mark on the landscape
well
I'll know where is the signature %uh
glaciers so striking as a new assembly
National Park
Yosemite Valley gets its movie you shape
profile from the action of glaciers up
you thousands of years ago glacier
filled the entire valley up
eventually the glacier retreated
revealing the bold and the workers movie
nights
well up
up
when the glaciers retreated from
Yosemite at the close of the last ice
age
their melting ice field deep pockets on
the ground to form
beautiful alpine lakes good
the clips mirrored in their waters seem
as permanent as the sky above
but that was just an illusion
for this gentle substance called water
will reduce these rocky cathedrals
to nothing
and
flatness is the goal erosion 0
were plate tectonic forces to suddenly
stop building mountains
water erosion would reduce the land to a
level playing
0 only sand dunes rise above the plane's
piled up by the blowing winds and
there is another force that is greatly
modifying the earth's surface
the group human population
is increasing at alarming rates and
within are huge appetite for resources
from the group crossed are we
damaging the cross beyond repair
if you if we damage the crust there are
lotsa back to geologic processes that
can undo the damage I think the critical
issue is
are we extracting resources from the
crust sustainable rate the answer to
that is of course
is no we're not we're extracting
resources at a much greater rate than
they can possibly
be replenished and this gets back to the
issue
love love the geologic versus human time
scales we perceive the earth is
being here forever as on human timescale
and yet the geologic processes that are
required to replenish
resources that were using a very rapid a
rare very rapid pace
a require millions and millions and
millions of years
so we are in fact damaging the crust of
the earth and
in ways that it relates to the
sustainability of our civilizations and
and us as a
humankind world
you may very well deplete the resources
that the crust is provided
we may even abuse the earth's crust in
ways that lead to our own extinction
on
on but the process is that regenerate
the crust
originate many miles below the surface
it is unlikely that humans will be able
to influence those processes
the
the
good
plate tectonics will carry on
I
new continental crust will be created at
subduction zone
offshore islands will be welded on two
continents to become exotic terrain
comments will be split and stretch wider
along with
so
Europe will live on forever changing the
expressive features
a bit rocky face me
well good
well all
good
bring
said
bring
good
day thing
