What Holds Up the Himalayas?

Scientists have discovered that a 100-year-old theory about Earth’s highest mountain range is wrong.

The Himalayas were formed when the Asian and Indian continents collided around 50 million years ago. Tibet was squeezed so hard it crumpled and shrank. Eventually, India slipped under the Eurasian tectonic plate, which doubled the thickness of Earth’s crust beneath the Himalayas and Tibet.

Until now, the theory has been that this extra-thick crust carries the weight of the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas. In 1924, geologist Emile Argand published research showing the 2 crusts stacked on top of each other, stretching 45-50 miles (70-80 km) deep under Earth’s surface.

But researchers now say that rocks in the crust turn molten about 25 miles (40 km) down because of extreme temperatures. The lowermost layers become like yogurt, which won’t support a mountain.

New research says there is a piece of mantle sandwiched between the 2 crusts. The mantle is a layer that usually sits directly beneath the crust. Being denser than the crust, it doesn’t liquify at the same temperatures. The crust is buoyant, similar to an iceberg. It lifts higher the thicker it gets.

A computer simulation of the collision between the Asian and Indian continents showed that as the Indian crust began to liquify, blobs of it rose and attached to the base of the rigid outer layer. This means there is a rigid layer of mantle between the stacked crusts, which solidifies the structure beneath the Himalayas. While the 2 crusts give buoyancy to the region lifted, the mantle material provides mechanical strength.

Then the researchers compared their simulation with seismic data and information obtained from rocks. They found that the mantle sandwich matched previous evidence that Arnand’s theory couldn’t explain. Enigmatic observations are more easily explained with this model. This study presents strong evidence, but it is controversial because Arnaud’s theory has been widely adopted.

These results explain a number of geological oddities in the region. The scientists ran lots of simulations using different thicknesses for the layers, and they always got a bit of mantle sandwiched between the 2 crusts.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/the-geology-that-holds-up-the-himalayas-is-not-what-we-thought-scientists-discover/ar-AA1Ly8l6?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=58b796c6ff6143d886f6d7199af0640e&ei=51

A Map to the Ark

A 3,000-year-old map has finally told scientists where to locate Noah’s Ark.

After years of study, the world’s oldest map has been deciphered, and scientists believe it reveals the final resting place of Noah’s Ark.

The Imago Mundi is a Babylonian clay tablet featuring a writing system using wedge-shaped symbols (cuneiform) to describe how the world was created, according to the Christians. Researchers have done a deeper analysis to decipher the map and discover biblical references.

The back of the tablet describes what a traveler will see on the journey to a ‘parsiktu vessel’. ‘Parsiktu’ is a word that explains the size of a boat that would be needed to survive the Great Flood. Following the instructions, researchers found a path to ‘Urartu’ where an ancient Mesopotamian poem says a man and his family landed an ark. ‘Urartu’ is the Assyrian equivalent of ‘Ararat’, which is the Hebrew word for the mountain where Noah’s ark crashed.

It seems that from the Babylonian point of view, the story of the ark was a matter-of-fact thing, and if you went on this journey, you would find the remnants of this historic boat.

The Imago Mundi was found in what is now Iraq in 1882. Its cuneiform text was only used by the Babylonians. They also etched a map of what seems to show the entire known world at the time the tablet was made. On the map, Mesopotamia sits at the bottom center, enclosed by a circle that represents a ‘bitter river’ that was believed to surround the entire world.

The tablet has been damaged, but at one time, it featured 8 triangles that signified mountains described on the back.

The ‘parsiktu’ measurement is only known from one other cuneiform tablet. It basically describes the Ark that was built, theoretically, by the Babylonian version of Noah. While the Imago Mundi is dated to 3,000-years-ago, the biblical great flood supposedly happened about 5,000-years-ago.

In the Bible, the ark settled on the ‘mountains of Ararat’ in Turkey following a 150-day flood. The ark measured ‘300 cubits, 50 cubits, by 30 cubits’, which translates to 515 feet long, 86 feet wide, and 52 feet high.

A team has been excavating the mountain in question for years. In 2023, they found clay, marine materials, and seafood, which placed humans at the scene between 3,000 and 5,000 years ago.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/scientists-decipher-3-000-year-old-map-to-find-location-of-noah-s-ark/ar-AA1t8G6m?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=6fc7dd98f17b42d8852b3bbcb7f5d7c6&ei=26

10,500-Year-Old Face

Scientists have reconstructed the face of a 10,500-year-old woman using DNA. The woman lived in what is now Belgium.

The woman had blue eyes, and her skin was slightly lighter than most other Mesolithic-period people living in Western Europe when compared to the analyses made to date. According to archaeologists, the woman came from the same population group as the Cheddar Man, who lived in what is now the United Kingdom at around the same time. The Cheddar Man had even lighter skin than the woman.

These findings challenge previous assumptions that European hunter-gatherers shared the same genetic makeup. It also demonstrates that even that long ago, there was considerable variation in skin color.

The skull indicated the woman was between 35 and 60 years old. Her nose had a high nasal bridge, similar to Cheddar Man. And she had strong brow ridges despite being female.

The woman’s remains were found in an archaeological dig in 1988-1989 in the Margaux cave in Dinant. The bodies of 8 other women were also found there. This was deemed unusual as most Mesolithic burial sites contain a mixture of men, women, and children. Many of the skeletons were sprinkled with ochre, a pigment made of iron oxide, clay, and silica. Most of the bodies were carefully covered with stone fragments, but one individual had cut marks on her skull that were made after her death.

This burial cave was used over a period of several hundred years, which indicates that it was a place of memory that people would go back to despite their mobile lifestyle. Such findings point to complex burial customs and raise questions about the social structure and cultural practices of this early community.

One archaeologist found the ancient woman’s skin color a bit surprising but indicated there is a limited pool of Mesolithic people to make comparisons. Apparently, all Western Europe individuals who have had their DNA analyzed belong to the same genetic group.

When these remains were first recovered, there was no way to conduct research into ancient DNA. But techniques have been developed since then. The DNA was taken from the woman skull, which allowed a very detailed reconstruction.

The woman’s coloring is based on DNA, while such things as jewelry and tattoos are based on data from other excavations in the River Meuse basin. This data also helped build a picture of her daily life.

At a former campsite on the banks of the river, scientists found stone tools, fish remains, and bones from wild game, which proved these people were nomadic. They were forced to move through the landscape because they were dependent on natural resources such as plants, fish, and wild game.

There are still a lot of questions about these Mesolithic communities, which were the last hunter-gatherers in Western Europe.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/scientists-reconstruct-10-500-year-old-woman-s-face-using-dna/ar-AA1H29cO?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=8bfc0715dd4c4b0f92e756baa7f46623&ei=15