Nightingale 0 #26 December 11, 2003 the explanation of how nevada used to be under water is a theory called "plate tectonics" The theory of plate tectonics states that the Earth's outermost layer is fragmented into a dozen or more large and small plates that are moving relative to one another as they ride atop hotter, more mobile material. It has provided explanations to questions that scientists had speculated upon for centuries -- such as why earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur in very specific areas around the world, and how and why great mountain ranges like the Alps and Himalayas formed. When plates bump into each other, you get fault lines, mountain ranges, volcanoes, and deep trenches. http://pubs.usgs.gov/publications/text/understanding.html#anchor6715825 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Daveuk 0 #27 December 11, 2003 i may be wrong but if something is floating in the sea then it is displacing an equal amount of water already, hence it floating. If it melts, all that is happening s that it is changing state which would not result in a rise in the overall level of the sea???? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nightingale 0 #28 December 11, 2003 Polar ice caps are not completely in the sea. They extend up onto land (which is not displacing sea water) that ice melts, runs into the sea, and raises the sea level. Also, some of the large ice cliffs are attached to the land ice masses, which hold them in one spot... there is tons of cubic feet of ice extending past the water line. ----------------- | ice cliff | glacier | | | | | | | |^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | Sea Water | |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sea Floor Ice melts... puts more mass into the water than was there originally. oceans rise. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SuperWoman 0 #29 December 11, 2003 They do say the continents 'float' on a mass of magma. OK, no problem there. But geologists also note the the seams between these 'geological' plates also leak (thus rising land mass and volcanos are born). ------------------------------------------------------------ The plates "leaking" is the subduction of other, more dense plates. A lot of subduction occurs around the Pacific Ocean, "Ring of Fire", and the reason for all the volcanos around there. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 3,121 #30 December 11, 2003 >Polar ice caps are not completely in the sea. 90% of the northern icecap is floating, but 95% of the snow and ice on antarctica is land-bound. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
