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Article: Moving Earth and heaven: colliding continents, the rise of the Himalayas, and the birth of the monsoons.(Earth-Climate)
- Article from:
- Oceanus
- Article date:
- September 22, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Therefore will not we fear, though the Earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.--Psalm 46
As a geologist, I do not fear the processes that carry Earth and mountain into the sea. I rejoice in them.
The mountains rise, are lashed by wind and weather, and erode. The rivers carry mud and debris from the mountains into the ocean, where they settle onto the relatively tranquil seafloor and are preserved. The sediments bear evidence about where they came from, what happened to them, and when. By analyzing and dating these seafloor sediments, scientists can piece together clues to reconstruct when and how fast their ...