A long magma feather under Oman’s Salma’s plateau may have played a surprising role in the formation of the old Indian subcontinent journey, the researchers report. This “ghost” feather – hot material stuck under the thick crust of the earth – cannot erupt, but may have changed the course of the Indian tectonic plate during its dramatic collision with Eurasia tens of millions of years ago. First detailed in the Earth and Planettary Science Letters, the discovery reveals a new class of deep cloak feathers that shape the continents silently without the typical surface volcano signature.
Plume Hidden ‘Ghost’ under Oman may have directed the way of collision of India with Eurasia
According to a live science reportThe plume was detected using seismic data from the network of dense sensor of Oman. Under the leadership of geophysics Simone Pilia, the group found that plume altered the way the sound waves moved by the layers of the earth, which in turn pointed to their presence. Unlike most cloak plumes, which rise and enter ocean plates, Dani is amagmatic and does not create surface eruptions due to the thick continental crust above the feather. This discovery means that there may be many hidden hidden squeezes under the continents.
Dani’s feather is the first non -erupt plume under a continental plate, which is expanding scientists’ view of how the dynamics of the cloak unfold out of sight. The researchers also calculated the movement of the Indian plate and found that a significant turn was necessary between 40 and 25 million years ago, which could have been affected by the shear stress created by the Feather. The effects of plume on topography are expected to be small regionally, but its geological role can be relatively large.
While feathers normally leave a visible volcanic TRACK – Like Hawaii’s islands chain – Dani Plume’s evidence may have been erased by subduction activity in the nearby Makran area. Still, the researchers say this discovery opens the doors to discover more “ghost” feathers, particularly in regions with similar thick crusts, such as Africa. As seismic technologies advance, the most silent underground forces that shape the history of the earth may arise.