![]() ![]() Despite its voluminous efforts, the Midcontinent Rift failed to break North America apart. For example, the Americas rifted apart from Europe and Africa to form the Atlantic Ocean. In total, the Midcontinent Rift contains about a million cubic kilometers of volcanic rock-enough to fill up all of the Great Lakes twenty times, and enough for an ocean floor twice the area of Lake Superior.Įarth's oceans started as such rifts. ![]() Over about 20 million years, an enormous amount of volcanic rock erupted. About a billion years ago, this part of the continent started to break apart, or "rift". Why install the seismometers in the middle of a continent, where earthquakes are rare? We want to study a somewhat linear geologic feature called the Midcontinent Rift. Though funds ran out in 2015, we are still continuing to use SPREE data and findings to research this fascinating part of North America. NEW: "Nuggets" of SPREE-data driven research are available for browsing under the Research tab in the top menu and were submitted to the Earthscope National Office in Alaska in 2017-2018. Geoscientists use seismic waves from these earthquakes to produce images of the Earth’s interior structure. ![]() These seismometers recorded earthquakes from all over the world. Funded by the Earthscope Program of the National Science Foundation, geoscientists from American and Canadian universities installed 82 seismometers in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Ontario for their project: SPREE (Superior Province Rifting EarthScope Experiment). ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |