A recent study published in Solid Earth revealed an important finding: an ancient oceanic plate may be sinking. This plate, located between Iran, Iraq, and Turkey, is affecting movements beneath the Earth’s surface and could change the region’s topography.
The research team believes the cause may be the weight of sediments accumulating in the depressions of the Zagros Mountains.
Region of the Zagros Mountains (Image: Solid Earth/Replication)
The ancient oceanic plate is breaking apart
For millions of years, the Arabian and Eurasian continental plates have moved toward one another. Over time, the underwater seabed between them, known as the Neotethys oceanic plate, sank into the Earth to make room for both. When the two plates eventually collided, their edges buckled and uplifted, giving rise to what we now know as the Zagros Mountains, a mountain range stretching across Iraq, Iran, and southeastern Turkey.
This collision had significant consequences. The weight of these mountains causes the Earth’s surface to bend beneath them, forming depressions that fill with sediments. The study discovered that these depressions, which are currently 3 to 4 kilometers deep, are even deeper than previously understood, with even more weight from accumulated sediments.
Dr. Renas Koshnaw, the lead author of the study, stated that the depression is much larger than what the mountains alone could have caused.
Tectonic plate dynamics in the region that led to the formation of the Zagros Mountains (Image: Solid Earth/Replication)
What are the consequences?
- The weight of the Zagros Mountains and the sediments in the depressions is sinking the oceanic plate, pulling the Earth’s surface down.
- As the region sinks further, there is more space for sediments to accumulate, causing the weight to increase even more.
- According to Koshnaw, moving toward Turkey, the depression with the sediments is shallower, suggesting that the oceanic plate may have already broken apart.
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According to IFLScience, the Neotethys oceanic plate may indeed be sinking into the Earth’s mantle, and the accumulating weight is likely reinforcing this process until the plate eventually breaks apart.
These observations provide valuable insight into the internal workings of our planet. Scientists now hope to continue studying how internal processes shape geological features and the Earth’s surface topography.
