Friday, June 20, 2008

Shrinking World

Ok, I've noticed something. The world is shrinking. How do I know? I mentioned it in an earlier blog, about checking on earthquakes from this site: http://www.iris.edu/seismon/ a couple of times a day. The site shows where earthquakes 4.0 and bigger occur. The most active area is the Asian side of the "Ring of Fire." The name "Ring of Fire" comes from, in part, the earthquakes. Earthquakes also accompany volcanos, which produces the "fire" in the name.

Anyway, to get back to the shrinking. When you look at the display almost all of the earthquakes are on the Asian side. This is due to subduction. You know, where one tectonic plate is sliding under another plate. Well, when the one slides under the other, it melts and over time becomes magma. Some of it, very little of it, comes back up as volcanic spew. The rest just stays down sorta like those spicy BBQ ribs you ate and are now rumbling around in your belly.

Now, think about this. If one plate is sliding under another, and not coming back up, the world must be getting smaller. "Oh!", you say, "What about the Mid-Atlantic trench?" Well, there are almost no earthquakes from that area. Just think about this for a moment... If the trench is spreading, shouldn't there be earthquakes as the world splits open along the trench? You bet! But, NO! No such earthquakes are happening. Therefore, the world is shrinking. Someday in the far,far future, Japan will be an island just off the West Coast. Sorta like Catalina is now. People will take day trips to Japan for the Saki and sushi.

I can't wait.

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