A team of researchers from the University of Southampton has made a groundbreaking discovery about the Northern Appalachian Anomaly (NAA), a region of unusually hot rock beneath the Appalachian Mountains. The anomaly, which spans 200 miles in width and 125 miles below the surface, was triggered by a slow-moving underground “mantle wave” caused by tectonic events that occurred over 90 million years ago.
According to professor Tom Gernon, the lead researcher on the project, the “mantle wave” refers to a chain reaction of convective instabilities in the mantle that begins when a continent starts to rift. The process involves heavy, cold rock sinking into hot, soft rock, causing hotter material to rise and form a plume of heat beneath the surface.
The researchers believe that this “drip” from the distant past may not have originated beneath New England at all, but rather near the Labrador Sea, where North America began pulling away from Europe over 120 million years ago. The movement of tectonic plates triggered convective instabilities, which then migrated inland over time.
The discovery has significant implications for our understanding of geological processes and the formation of mountain ranges. It suggests that deep mantle processes may have occurred repeatedly, moving step by step inland over tens of millions of years. While there is still limited seismic data in northern areas like Newfoundland and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the potential connection between the NAA and other anomalies hints at a larger, hidden system of mantle activity beneath the eastern edge of North America.
Source: https://www.newsweek.com/deep-heat-beneath-us-study-2105654