Utrecht University geologist Suzanna van de Lagemaat has actually reconstructed a massive and previously unidentified tectonic plate that was once one-quarter the size of the Pacific Ocean. Van de Lagemaat rebuilded lost plates through field research and comprehensive examinations of the mountain belts of Japan, Borneo, the Philippines, New Guinea, and New Zealand. The Pontus oceanic plate that was rebuilded by Suzanna van de Lagemaat: its area in the paleo-Pacific ocean 120 million years earlier, and its present relicts. An earlier research study revealed that a large subduction zone should have run through the western paleo-Pacific Ocean, which separated the known Pacific plates in the east from a hypothetical Pontus plate in the west. Van de Lagemaats research likewise showed that a single coherent plate tectonic system stretched from southern Japan to New Zealand, and it must have existed for at least 150 million years.
The Pontus oceanic plate that was rebuilded by Suzanna van de Lagemaat: its area in the paleo-Pacific ocean 120 million years ago, and its present relicts. An earlier research study revealed that a large subduction zone must have run through the western paleo-Pacific Ocean, which separated the known Pacific plates in the east from a hypothetical Pontus plate in the west.
Restoration Process
Using geological information, Van de Lagemaat initially reconstructed the motions of the existing plates in the region between Japan and New Zealand. That revealed how large the location was of plates that should have vanished in the current western Pacific area.
” We also carried out fieldwork on northern Borneo, where we discovered the most important piece of the puzzle. We thought we were dealing with antiques of a lost plate that we already learnt about. Our magnetic laboratory research study on those rocks indicated that our finds were originally from much further north, and had to be remnants of a various, formerly unidentified plate.” But the important awareness was yet to come.
” 11 years earlier, we believed that the remnants of Pontus may lie in northern Japan, however we d because refuted that theory”, describes Douwe van Hinsbergen, Van de Lagemaats PhD supervisor. “It was only after Suzanna had systematically rebuilded half of the Ring of Fire mountain belts from Japan, through New Guinea, to New Zealand that the proposed Pontus plate revealed itself, and it included the rocks we studied on Borneo.”
A geologist has actually successfully rebuilded a formerly unidentified tectonic plate called Pontus, once around one-fourth the size of the Pacific Ocean. This discovery was made through field research in numerous regions, including Japan, Borneo, and the Philippines. Credit: Suzanna van de Lagemaat/Utrecht University
When one-quarter the size of the Pacific Ocean, Utrecht University geologist Suzanna van de Lagemaat has actually rebuilded a enormous and previously unidentified tectonic plate that was. Her coworkers in Utrecht had actually forecasted its existence over ten years ago based upon fragments of old tectonic plates discovered deep in the Earths mantle. Van de Lagemaat rebuilded lost plates through field research study and in-depth investigations of the mountain belts of Japan, Borneo, the Philippines, New Guinea, and New Zealand. To her surprise, she found that oceanic residues on northern Borneo must have come from the long-suspected plate, which scientists have actually called Pontus. She has actually now rebuilded the entire plate in its complete splendor.
Understanding the movements of the tectonic plates that make up the Earths stiff outer shell is important to comprehending the worlds geological history. Van de Lagemaat studied the planets most complex plate tectonic area: the area around the Philippines.
” The Philippines lies at a complex junction of various plate systems. The region nearly entirely includes oceanic crust, but some pieces are raised above water level, and show rocks of extremely different ages.”
Traces of the Pontus Plate
The antiques of Pontus are not just located on northern Borneo, but also on Palawan, an island in the Western Philippines, and in the South China Sea. Van de Lagemaats research study likewise showed that a single meaningful plate tectonic system stretched from southern Japan to New Zealand, and it should have existed for at least 150 million years. That is also a brand-new discovery in the field.
Seismic Signals and Plate Detection
The previous forecasts of the existence of Pontus were made possible due to the fact that a subducted plate leaves traces when it sinks into the earths mantle: zones in the mantle with anomalous temperatures or compositions.
When seismographs choose up signals from earthquakes, these abnormalities can be observed. Earthquakes send out waves through the Earths interior, and when they travel through an anomaly, such as a piece from an old plate, the anomaly produces an interruption of the signal.
Geologists can trace these disruptions to the presence of phenomena in the mantle, such as fragments of tectonic plates. That allows them to look 300 million years into the past; older plate pieces have dissolved at the boundary in between the mantle and the core.
The study from 11 years ago showed that a big subduction zone must have run through the western paleo-Pacific Ocean, which separated the understood Pacific plates in the east from the hypothetical Pontus plate in the west. This hypothesis has actually now been independently demonstrated by Van de Lagemaats research study.
Recommendation: “Plate tectonic cross-roads: Reconstructing the Panthalassa-Neotethys Junction Region from Philippine Sea Plate and Australasian oceans and orogens” by Suzanna H.A. van de Lagemaat and Douwe J.J. van Hinsbergen, 29 September 2023, Gondwana Research.DOI: 10.1016/ j.gr.2023.09.013.