Produced by: Manoj Kumar
A long-forgotten oceanic plate is sinking deep into Earth’s mantle, dragging the crust above with it. But instead of descending smoothly, it is tearing apart beneath the Zagros Mountains, altering the region’s topography in ways invisible to the naked eye.
New research reveals that this subterranean rupture is already advancing westward, where Iraq’s Kurdistan region meets Turkey. The tear is now creeping toward northwest Iran, silently reshaping the land from below.
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Published in Solid Earth on November 25, 2024, the study uncovers how the mantle’s pull is sculpting the Earth’s surface. These findings challenge previous assumptions about plate tectonics in the Middle East.
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The sinking plate was once part of Neotethys, an ancient ocean born when Pangaea split 195 million years ago. Though Neotethys vanished over 20 million years ago, its remnants still manipulate the land above.
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“This plate is pulling the region downward from below,” said study author Renas Koshnaw, a geologist at Göttingen University. His team’s findings reveal how deep tectonic forces continue to shape landscapes millions of years after ocean basins disappear.
As Neotethys vanished, its oceanic crust slid beneath Eurasia, dragging the Arabian plate with it. The resulting collision uplifted the Zagros Mountains while depressing the Mesopotamian plains, where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers now flow.
Koshnaw’s team discovered an unexpectedly thick sediment layer, nearly 2.5 miles deep. Their models revealed that mountain weight alone couldn’t explain the depth. Instead, the lurking plate’s downward pull continues to warp the land.
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Moving north toward Turkey, the sediment depression becomes shallower. This suggests the descending plate has fractured, relieving some of the downward force. But in Iraq, the sinking process remains active and unresolved.
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The ongoing plate descent and collision between the Arabian and Eurasian plates are linked to massive earthquakes. Scientists say this hidden dynamic could provide new insights into fault lines, resource deposits, and seismic risks in the region.
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