Science is Fun Fridays!

 

Over 400 million years ago, boiling rocks from the Earth's crust tore an ocean into Mongolia.

Known as a mantle plume, this stream of hot, buoyant rock is typically the first stage of the Wilson cycle - the process by which supercontinents break apart and come together.

The volcanic rocks that were found in Mongolia are from the Devonian period, when Pangaea consisted of Laurasia and Gondwana.  The plume actually hit a weak spot, where crust had previously come together through accretion.

The researchers say the Mongol-Okhotsk Ocean was probably similar to what is seen today at the Red Sea, where the crust is spreading about 1 centimeter per year.  In tens of millions of years, the rift could create a brand new ocean in eastern Africa.