• Missing . . .

Posted: **Thu Mar 01, 2007 10:54 am**

[url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/6405667.stm]
Scientists probe 'hole in Earth'[/url] wrote:Scientists are to sail to the mid-Atlantic to examine a massive "open wound" on the Earth's surface.
Dr Chris MacLeod, from Cardiff University, said the Earth's crust appeared to be completely missing in an area thousands of kilometres across.

The hole in the crust is midway between the Cape Verde Islands and the Caribbean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

The team will survey the area, up to 5km (3 miles) under the surface, from ocean research vessel RRS James Cook.

The ship is on its inaugural voyage after being named in February.

Dr MacLeod said the hole in the Earth's crust was not unique, but was recognised as one of the most significant.

He said it was an "open wound on the surface of the Earth", where the oceanic crust, usually 6-7km thick (3.7-4.3 miles), was simply not there.

"Usually the plates are pulled apart and to fill the gap the mantle underneath has to rise up. As it comes up it starts to melt. That forms the magma," he said.

"That's the normal process. Here it has gone awry for some reason.

"The crust does not seem to be repairing itself."

Dr MacLeod said the research could lead to a "new way of understanding" the process of plate tectonics.

The scientist will test theories he developed after visiting the area in 2001 - including the possibility the missing crust was caused by a "detachment fracture".

"Effectively it's a huge rupture - one side is being pulled away from the other. It's created a rupture so big it's actually pulled the entire crust away.

"We also think the mantle did not melt as much as usual and that the normal amount of mantle was not produced."

As a result, the mantle is exposed to seawater, creating a rock called serpentinite.

The survey voyage, costing $1m (£510,000), will be led by marine geophysicist Professor Roger Searle, from Durham University.

Dr Bramley Murton, from the University of Southampton, is the third expert taking part.

They will set sail from Tenerife on Monday and return in April.

The team intends to use sonar to build up an image of the seafloor and then take rock cores using a robotic seabed drill developed by the British Geological Survey in conjunction with Dr MacLeod.

The progress of the voyage can be followed online.

So there's a big chunk of the earth missing in the Atlantic . . . anybody want to guess what it was?

Posted: **Thu Mar 01, 2007 10:58 am**

... I can guess what might -belong- there...

Posted: **Thu Mar 01, 2007 11:02 am**

Exciting possibilities, huh?

Posted: **Thu Mar 01, 2007 11:09 am**

Serpentinite... scarey name.

Posted: **Thu Mar 01, 2007 11:11 am**

Kolya if you are thinking what I suspect you are, that is a worrisome idea.

Posted: **Thu Mar 01, 2007 11:13 am**

So . . . anbody got folks they can get in on this expidition?

Posted: **Thu Mar 01, 2007 11:16 am**

No active participation but scientists have access to information almost as it comes in. Analysis could take a while to understand what info, however.

Posted: **Thu Mar 01, 2007 11:16 am**

Maybe?

Posted: **Thu Mar 01, 2007 11:17 am**

Hell, I wish. I'm only a small-time operator, powerful as I may be.

Posted: **Thu Mar 01, 2007 11:19 am**

My Geek has always claimed that Atlantis didn't sink, but was actually pulled off the surface of the Earth.

This scar might proove he's right.

Posted: **Thu Mar 01, 2007 11:29 am**

I think geeks around the world are secretly hoping...

Posted: **Thu Mar 01, 2007 11:30 am**

I'm agreeing with your geek, and I'm hoping this incident proves it... or comes as close as it will...

Posted: **Thu Mar 01, 2007 11:30 am**

Mine isn't so secret about it.

Posted: **Thu Mar 01, 2007 11:31 am**

Yea, I think the best we can hope for is "it is possible that..." which is not saying much at all.

Posted: **Thu Mar 01, 2007 2:37 pm**

By the time the bureaucracy gets done with the data, we will be lucky to have even that from the scientists.

Posted: **Thu Mar 01, 2007 3:03 pm**

A cynic...........

but you are probably correct.

Posted: **Tue Mar 13, 2007 1:32 pm**

Aparently you can monitor the expedition live from the webpage.

Posted: **Tue Mar 13, 2007 2:22 pm**

Or at least the footage they recorded last weekend :lol:

Posted: **Wed Mar 14, 2007 2:18 am**

On the sound stage back in Houston?

Posted: **Wed Mar 14, 2007 9:09 am**

Yea, could be anywhere though, even somewhere underwater.

I know some people will be watching, but not me.

Posted: **Wed Mar 14, 2007 5:15 pm**

I am more concerned with what those eggheads while stir up rather than what they will discover. All those sub-strata caverns down there. I see a "Deep Star Six" sequel coming out of this whole big mess.

Or at least a few megladons following the camera crews back topside. That would make one hell of a fish tale.

Posted: **Wed Mar 14, 2007 5:45 pm**

Hopefully they will explode before getting to the surface.

Or get such a horrible case of the bends that they die from it until they are dead.

Posted: **Wed Mar 14, 2007 11:29 pm**

The sharks or the scientists

You should really be more specific there Kolya.

Posted: **Wed Mar 14, 2007 11:38 pm**

So, who do you want to die until they are dead? :lol:

Posted: **Wed Mar 14, 2007 11:42 pm**

Ah Vodka! Responsible for slurring Kolya's already bad English for over 20 years.

Posted: **Thu Mar 15, 2007 1:08 am**

Holister wrote:Ah Vodka! Responsible for slurring Kolya's already bad English for over 20 years.

If the creatures are living that deep in the ocean, they should not be able to survive very high in the water. Without pressure holding them together, they would explode before getting very far.

They being the underwater creatures.

Posted: **Thu Mar 15, 2007 1:14 am**

Sorry to burst your bubble Kolya, ut sea creatures are acustomed to gradual preasure changes. Unless they shot up from the depths like a rocket, maybe they would explode. But whales and sharks do it all the time.

The best way of keeping what is down there, actually down there, is thermal current layering.

Posted: **Thu Mar 15, 2007 1:15 am**

Like I said, die of the bends... or if in a chase, explode.

That is what I said, right? You listening?

Posted: **Thu Mar 15, 2007 1:54 am**

Fish can not die from the bends genius, its impossible!!

Explosive decompression yes, if they were in a subersible that went up to fast, but I doubt if many sea creatures own a submersible.

Posted: **Thu Mar 15, 2007 3:11 am**

Actually Mr. Holister, pull a cod from deep water up to the surface. Note the swelling of the sthomach and the distended tongue, they are from the swim blader expanding and pushing the stomach and intestines out of the way, any fish that uses a bladder system to controll it's buoyancy can and will die from a fast rise from the depths. (note that many fish and other deep sea creatures do not use bladders, and can make the trip to the surface, I am not certain about sharks)