Texas and Antarctica Were Once Joined in a Supercontinent, Scientists Say
By Laura Matthews | August 8, 2011 9:13 PM EDT
An international team of scientists found string evidence that parts of North American and East Antarctica were once joined in a supercontinent called Rodinia about 1.1 billion years ago, long before Pangaea.
"I can go to the Franklin Mountains in West Texas and stand next to what was once part of Coats Land in Antarctica," said Staci Loewy, a geochemist at California State University, Bakersfield, who led the study. "That's so amazing."
Loewy and her colleagues found that rocks collected from both locations have the exact composition of lead isotopes. Earlier analyses revealed that the rocks were the exact same age and have identical chemical and geologic properties.
The work is published online in the September issue of the journal Geology.
It adds strength to support the so-called SWEAT hypothesis, which suggests that ancestral North America and East Antarctica were joined in an earlier supercontinent called Rodinia.
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http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/194630/20110808/texas-and-antarctica-were-once-joined-in-a-supercontinent.htm
Hmmm, I wonder when we till be moving south again? Might not be so bad... what, with the 105 to 110 Degree Weather were having this Summer!;)
Don
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