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A failed miniature continent lies veil beneath the sea between Canada and Greenland , scientists have expose .
The Davis Strait , which separates the two landmasses , range from about 200 to 400 miles ( 320 to 640 kilometers ) wide on its way connect the Labrador Sea and Baffin Bay . It ’s known to have an oddly dense seafloor , and now researchers know why : The crust is actually a crumb of a continent that did n’t fully pull forth when Greenland and Canada rifted apart .
A photo of the Davis Strait in Greenland
The findings , which the team will print in the September issue of the journalGondwana Research , is the most elaborate look yet at this incomplete rifting physical process . The researchers also suspect they ’ve discover an ancient fault , similar to California’sSan Andreas faulting , in the region . This fault may have act as like a guardrail , directing Greenland ’s initial motion as it started to get out aside from Canada around 60 million years ago .
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The two landmasses never fully do to separate . About 33 million years ago , Greenland stopped pulling off from North America and remains on the North American tectonic home plate . But this failed rift zona is an interesting place to study how tectonic plate move and split , said study co - authorJordan Phethean , a geophysicist at Derby University in the U.K.
" If we can understand why the plates are moving in the directions that they are , it admit us to understand what ’s controllingplate architectonics , " Phethean told Live Science .
The researcher call the newfound clod of continental incrustation beneath the Davis Strait a proto - microcontinent . Microcontinents are pieces of crust that have broken away from main continents . Many are submerged beneath the oceans , ring by denser pelagic freshness , but some , like Madagascar , form their own islands . The Davis Strait example did n’t quite amply fracture away ; it ’s a 12- to 15 - nautical mile - thick-skulled ( 19 to 24 kilometre ) segment of continental incrustation , surrounded by thinned - out continental encrustation that is about 9 to 10.5 miles ( 14 to 17 kilometer ) thick on each side . That ’s why it aim the " proto " cognomen , Phethean read .
The research worker reconstructed the ulterior structure of the Davis Strait region using graveness data point garner by satellites and seismic data amass by ship . Gravity data provide data about rock density by measuring minute magnetic variation in the pull of somberness , while seismic data use the reflection of acoustical waving to map deep rock layer and structures . The scientists used this information to build computer model of retiring plate movement .
They find out that North America and Greenland first started take out apart around 120 million years ago . This sped up dramatically around 61 million years ago . The seafloor of the Davis Strait lead off to spread , creating more aloofness between what ’s now Canada and Greenland . At this point , Greenland may have been ride along the San Andreas - like fault call the Pre - Ungava Transform Margin , which guide its trail mostly northeasterly . Then , around 56 million years ago , Greenland hit the ending of that structure and shifted to a mostly northerly direction of travelling . The Davis Strait proto - microntinent was born during this time .
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The North American plate seemed brace to let out apart . But then , around 48 million age ago , it all fizzled out . A fresh major fault formed in the realm and rifting in the Davis Strait ceased . Not long after , around 33 million years ago , Greenland crashed into Ellesmere Island , which may have further slowed its movement . Today , Phethean said , the field is relatively quiet , with no large , continent - reshaping earthquakes .
While crustal plate plate tectonic theory are often retrieve to be driven by deep - Earth processes , like the sinking of oceanic plates beneath the Continent , the grandness of the newfound fault in the Davis Strait suggests that features in the upper gall can have a major influence too , Phethean said .
" It seems like the geosphere , which is the rocks on the exterior of the planet , plays quite an of import role in why the tectonic plates are moving the way that they are , " he said .
