I hate this feeling that we are degenerating into a dark ages mentality, but that seems to be where we are headed. Plate tectonics really has nothing to do with liberal neuroses. The mantle couldn’t care less how stupid the people are at the surface.
PUNTARENAS, Costa Rica (Alex Leff) – Scientists set off from Costa Rica on Sunday to drill a hole deep under the sea and directly extract rocks from record depths that could add to the understanding of climate change.
The rocks dug up from the lower part of Earth’s crust in the coming weeks will be the closest anyone has come to the vast, churning part of the planet called the mantle, which lies between the crust and the core.
On a 140-meter (460-foot) ship that resembles an oil platform, the 30-member scientific team will bring back rocks from 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) beneath the sea off Costa Rica’s Pacific coast.
“This will be a big step forward but we’re still not getting to the mantle — the mantle is still 3 kilometers (2 miles) away,” said the expedition’s co-chief, Damon Teagle, of Britain’s University of Southampton.
An examination of rocks from the crust and mantle could shed light on how tectonic plates — vast pieces of the Earth’s crust — formed and how they move. When the plates move against one another they can cause earthquakes.
Scientists also think details about the composition of the lower crust might help them better understand climate change.
The world’s oceans trap greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, making the oceans important for models that try to predict how these gases fuel climate changes from global warming to altered weather patterns.
It’s hard to imagine a degree or two of temperature change having any effect on rocks a mile or more under the surface.
Only two kilometers to drill? Jeez… I drilled three wells in Alberta last year to 5km down… of course that is the depth relative to the surface (I’m sure they have oodles of ocean to penetrate). But yes… very stupid this argument of plate techtonics caused by climate change (but quite funny… like saying a butterfly flaps its wings in Rhode Island and destroys the Moon).
Jumping Josiah, that stuff they smoke in Costa Rica is so bad man………….. .
But it sure don’t take yer deep enough…..!
Well, er……….. not to the earth’s mantle anyhow, no way Jose.
Won’t the drill bits melt when they hit Gore’s million degree zone?
No, won’t melt, but all the “dirty oil” will be burned off
I think the Russians went down over 7 miles years ago…..
..and yeah the heat got to them
Heat and pressure tough on drills.
Latitude,
You are right on.
http://www.damninteresting.com/the-deepest-hole
I wont even say “geothermal gradient”. I guess they had to mention global warming to get funded?