Geologists are defined as the “imperial column” as an emerging stream of partially fascinated rocks (or very hot) that stems from the depths of the earth, and often from the borders separating the ground layers and the ground scarf, and heads towards the surface.
Usually these rocks are lighter than the surrounding rocks, which leads them to height slowly, just as a bubble of hot milk ascends in a saucepan over the fire.
And if it is easy to monitor this type of column thanks to its apparent effects, such as lava and the formation of volcanoes, then an international team of scientists was on a date with a unique discovery in the Sultanate of Oman, and under the peaceful plateau (in the eastern part of the country) they called it the “grille column”.
In the study published in the journal Earth & Palnnyre Sains Litters, the researchers explained that this unnecessary type of “migma columns” does not release fences and does not cause volcanoes, but it has a great influence, as he played a decisive role about 40 million years ago in changing the course of the Indian plate as it collided with the Eurasian plate, which contributed to the reshaping of the features of the continents.
The first practical guide
“Theoretically, we assumed the existence of this type of pillar of the Magma, which researchers described in their studies as the ghost columns, based on the emergence of volcanoes in unconventional places,” Dr. Abdel Aziz Mohamed Abdel Aziz, Professor of Exploration and Evaluation of Classes, Cairo University (not participating in the study) told Al -Jazeera Net.
“But what distinguishes the discovery in the Sultanate of Oman is that it is the first direct evidence of the presence of an active scarf that is not accompanied by volcanic activity, which turned the hypothesis into a reality supported by seismic data and geophysical analysis.”
He added, “This type of discoveries opens new horizons to understand the dynamics of the ground, especially in the continental areas that we have always assumed that they are devoid of scarfs of the scarf because of the thickness of its crust, which hinder the climb of the mug.
The beginning of unfamiliar topography
The story of the discovery started, as Dr. Simon Pelia, the geophysician at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia, started from a simple topographical note, which is that the peaceful plateau is slightly rising from its geological environment, without any indications of apparent volcanic activity, which raised doubts.
Pelia says in statements to “Live Science”: The column is a hot material “and when it is under the surface, it is pushed up and the terrain backwardness, and the height at a slight peaceful plateau, but it exists, and this tells us that the column is already active.”
To analyze this, the team relied on a dense seismic monitoring network covering the Sultanate of Oman, which is among the best in the region. Thanks to the seismic waves that follow different paths and speeds, according to the composition of the rocks, the researchers drew a map of the underground, revealed the presence of a deep, low -density, lower density area, similar to the mocking column but without any accompanying volcanic activity.
“Usually, the pillars of the maja ignite volcanoes because they fuse while they are ascending through the shell. But on the continents, the shell is more thick, which prevents them from reaching the roof, so many assumed its absence, but the absence of the volcano does not mean the absence of the column,” says Dr. Pelia.
After determining the location of this “silent column”, the team started tracking its old impact on tectonic plates. Returning to the motor data of the sheets, scientists rebuilt the Indian plate’s path as it collided with Eurasia 40 million years ago, and they found that the collision path changed slightly towards it, in a period coinciding with the presence of the column.
Hidden stress andEnormous
Through advanced sporting models, Pelia and his team have concluded that the “grille column” has produced the so -called “extreme stress”, which is a type of internal forces that push the rocks diagonally, which leads to its slippage or movement sideways.
“Just as it pays a box cover on the side while its base is fixed, the rocks in the ground slip by the action of this side pressure, which is enough to change the direction of the entire tectonic sheets,” Pelia explains.
This pressure was sufficient to change the angle of the movement of the Indian plate during its collision with Eurasia, which makes this silent column on the surface a hidden active re -formed the map of the continents as we know it today.
More geological ghosts
This discovery opens wide horizons for researchers to reconsider the continental areas that have always been considered “silent” in volcanic aspect.
Pelia notes that Africa is a strong candidate to embrace other ghost columns, because it is located above one of the huge “low speed areas” and is very deep in the ground, specifically at the border between the pulp and scarf (at a depth of about 2900 km) where seismic waves are running at a lower speed than usual, and it is believed to nurture giant male pillars.
“If we have discovered this column in the Sultanate of Oman thanks to a thick seismic network, there is a high possibility of the presence of similar columns in other places that have not yet been monitored, simply because we do not have enough data.”
While scientists continue to develop seismic monitoring tools and 3D modeling, the discoveries of the so -called “ghost columns” are likely to increase, which may cause a fundamental shift in our understanding of the dynamics of the ground, and the shape of the continents that are constant, but it still responds to the ghost forces working in silence under our feet.
