Godzilla anomaly discussion (archive)
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Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1998 10:38:27 -0500
From: Graeme Price

Sorry about the slightly misleading title on this one, but you'll see why later. Anyway, I was skimming an old-ish copy of Nature the other day on an unrelated matter when I noticed that I had photocopied an interesting little article in addition to the one I wanted. Naturally, this turned out to be of possible DG relevance, so I am going to type it out in full in a minute (the typo's will be mine) and throw it out for discussion by the rest of you - especially the geologists (Davide?) on the list.

Anyway, said article is concerned with tectonic plates under the pacific and a slight anomaly that has recently been described (I would have gone back to the original source in the Journal "Geology", but the Med School library isn't exactly well stocked with geology journals…). Looking for the location of this on my (rather inadequate) map, the anomaly (a 100km wide seamount which if I interpret the article correctly, shouldn't exist) is just off the right hand side of New Zealand to the north (putting it nearer 25o S Lat, 175o W long than 47o9' S Lat and 126o43' W Long as mentioned in the Johansen narrative). Still, it could be that the Johansen narrative is incorrect in the exact location either deliberately or accidentally. I am of course talking about the position of R'yleh… the article from Nature follows.

Nature Vol 395 p223 17 September 1998

[Earth Science]

Crack-Up Under the Pacific

[by] Tim Lincoln

To the left in this gravity map of the ocean floor [described below] in the southwest Pacific is the Australian tectonic plate. To the right is the Pacific plate, which is (or should be) plunging under the Australian plate along a wide subduction front that appears in purple. The catch literally comes from the chain of seamounts that appears as bobbles running from the southeast. It is thought that an especially large seamount, some 100 km in diameter and provisonally named Godzilla, has jammed subduction locally.

What, though, of the hair-line crack running due east from the place where the seamount chain meets the subduction front? This is the Louisville trough, and it is in reality about 800 km long and 20 km across. Writing in Geology (26,795-798;1998), Christopher Small and Dallas Abbott consider two explanations for the trough's origin. One, proposed by peter Lonsdale, is that it is an extinct spreading centre, a ridge along which magma once welled up and created new ocean floor. The other, which they have put forward, is that the stresses that have built up on the locked Pacific plate may be cracking it - which if correct, as the authors themselves point out, begs the question of why the seamount did not give first.

[my poor photocopy of accompanying photograph shows a dark line (the Pacific/Australian plate junction) running from mid top to bottom left. Meeting this line at about 1/4 of the way along it (from the top) is the crack (running to the right from the plate junction), and the chain of seamounts (appearing as a line of white dots with shadows, running to the bottom right hand corner from the plate junction].


Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1998 10:41:11 -0800
From: Joseph Camp

I believe FORTEAN TIMES addressed this topic from a different perspective a couple months back. This unusual geologic activity is apparently also generating some peculiar noises—specifically described as a rhythmic pulsing, almost like the breathing of some great creature. The FT writer, not missing a beat, spent a couple paragraphs outlining the basics of Cthulhu/R'lyeh lore for the amusement and horror of readers.


Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1998 20:09:46 +0100
From: Davide Mana

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to South Pacific….

Naturally, this turned out to be of possible DG relevance, so I am going to type it out in full in a minute (the typo's will be mine) and throw it out for discussion by the rest of you - especially the geologists (Davide?) on the list.

Always more than willing to show off, pal!

Anyway, said article is concerned with tectonic plates under the pacific and a slight anomaly that has recently been described (I would have gone back to the original source in the Journal "Geology", but the Med School library isn't exactly well stocked with geology journals…).

Just like the Turin Geology Department Library.
No, seriously.

But they do have an incredibly pretty librarian, so I'll make a sacrifice and spend a few hours there tomorrow morning.
She's usually more than willing.
To help.

For the moment, let's look at this article.

Quoting from article:

To the left in this gravity map of the ocean floor [described below] in the southwest Pacific is the Australian tectonic plate. To the right is the Pacific plate, which is (or should be) plunging under the Australian plate along a wide subduction front that appears in purple.

But it's more complicated that that.
In the point noted by Graeme the Pacific Plate is sliding under the Tonga Microplate. This is a typical subduction zone.

Sorry guys, this is probably just geological nitpicking.

[I won't go into what exactly a gravity map is and what does it show here, but should the thing prove relevant to the discussion, I'll expand on this in further messages]

Oh, and the Pacific Plate _is_ plunging under the other, and at a rather stiff angle too, as far as I know, with a speed of 5 inches/year. It's the kind of thing that you have a hard time not noticing, plate subduction. The anomaly these guys are talking about is probably _extremely_ local.

Quoting from article:

The catch literally comes from the chain of seamounts that appears as bobbles running from the southeast. It is thought that an especially large seamount, some 100 km in diameter and provisonally named Godzilla, has jammed subduction locally.

This is interesting.
But not unheard of.

I know a pair of guys that built their entire academic carreers on the eventuality of such a feature in Southern Tethis, jamming the subduction of the African plate and influencing the formation of the Mediterranean and the structure of both Alps and Appennines. Nice to see that the thing actually happens in real life!

[warning - we are clearly in Structural Geology Territory. we can expect a lot of hot air and posturing from the authors]

Quoting from article:

What, though, of the hair-line crack running due east from the place where the seamount chain meets the subduction front? This is the Louisville trough, and it is in reality about 800 km long and 20 km across.

No.

The Louisville _Ridge_ (the opposite of a Through) runs from 25°S/175°W down to 42°S/155°W.

From there on the morphological expression of the structure becomes less definite (on the map I'm consulting, anyway) for something like, say, 500 Kms, and then you get the Tharp Fracture Zone down to about 62°S/90°W. The two are clearly in continuity. So it's a _major_ geological structure we are dealing with, almost certainly a single entity running from 25°S/175°W to 62°S/90°W (and crossing the South Pacific Rise). And a well known one.

Now, Graeme noted

the anomaly (a 100km wide seamount which if I interpret the article correctly, shouldn't exist) is just off the right hand side of New Zealand to the north

Well, you are right: they make it sound as if Godzilla and its ancillary structures were some sort of strange freak of nature. They are not, it's just the writer that is giving the wrong impression. The problem might well be that we are in one of those situations in which the Plate Tectonics Theory simply is not enough to explain our observations. It happens sometimes (with Iceland, for instance), and structural geologists hate it.

Quoting from article:

Writing in Geology (26,795-798;1998), Christopher Small and Dallas Abbott consider two explanations for the trough's origin. One, proposed by peter Lonsdale, is that it is an extinct spreading centre, a ridge along which magma once welled up and created new ocean floor.

Nice and easy, up to a point.
This turns the Louisvill Ridge into sort of an abortive Mid-Atlantic Ridge, with the Godzilla seamount possibly playing the part of Iceland. Explaining why the ridge turns into a plain fracture zone way south could be a problem, though, but nothing impossible to explain (different stress regime or some other stuff). All in all a good theory, and one that does not ask for strange phenomena or what.
I like it.

Quoting from article:

The other, which they have put forward, is that the stresses that have built up on the locked Pacific plate may be cracking it -

A likelier possibility is that the stress caused by Godzilla catching up into the Australian Plate somewhat re-activated the old ridge/fracture line, this time causing the two sectors (on the sides of the ridge) to slide one along the other instead of moving apart. This again is not unheard of. Of course the two guys are not just improvising, here (I'll have to take a look at that old Geology, after all); they must have some sort of data to work on, probably something that shows tectonic activity parallel to the Ridge.

[Don't look at me that way - it would all be easier with just two quick sketches]

Quoting from article:

which if correct, as the authors themselves point out, begs the question of why the seamount did not give first.

Because there was a fracture line already there with a much weaker resistance coefficent, so it gave first, silly!

What I expressed above is one possible interpretation of the phenomenon. It's not the only one - I have an alternate interpretation ready myself, but I won't put it down here without getting other data first.

All in all I don't think we are dealing with R'lyeh, here. More likely is just a sensationalistic treatment of a much more sedate subject, to make it more appealing.

But… just two more things before I go.

First - if Godzilla is really jamming the plate subduction locally, it could be the right place for a huge Deep One colony. We are dealing with something like and underwater island. The place straddles two major deep sea trenches (Tonga to the north and Kermadec to the south), and yet it is characterized by moderate depth. Moderate depth means higher solar radiation, which means algae (fitoplancton). The active geological area means higher water temperatures (that play havock with the local currents) and also a higher than normal silica content in the water; more silica in the water means more zooplancton (feeding off the fitoplancton), which means more fish. If the place is 100 kms wide, it makes for a great Deep One breeding ground. And it's real close to R'lyeh.

Second - In the light of the above geological discussion (which at least establishes the fact the the Louisville Ridge is not the quiet and insignificant geological structure we always imagined) a place that would be interesting to take a look at, searching for R'lyeh, would be around 55°S/118°W, where the Tharp Fracture Zone crosses the South Pacific Rise, an active ocean spreading line, at a depth of about 6000 feet. Not so far from the canonical Lovecraftian location, the place has all the markings of a first class geological mess - blocks going up and down along faults, small quakes, with added weird temperature ranges, strange chemicals in the water, lots of endemic faunas…

Do we have someone at Wood's Hole facility to divert a deep sea vessel and support ship for the job? An armed ship as a backup is also recommended.


Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1998 17:14:40 -0800 (PST)
From: Christopher

All in all I don't think we are dealing with R'lyeh, here. More likely is just a sensationalistic treatment of a much more sedate subject, to make it more appealing.

Case officers and agents are recommended to memorize CO Mana's disinformation efforts and utilize them when this topic is raised among audiences without Delta Green clearance. The last thing we need is another "RSV Wallaby" incident in the private sector while the anomaly is still under investigation.


Date: Sat, 28 Nov 1998 01:35:01 EST
From: Michael Layne

First - if Godzilla is really jamming the plate subduction locally, it could be the right place for a huge Deep One colony. We are dealing with something like and underwater island. The place straddles two major deep sea trenches (Tonga to the north and Kermadec to the south), and yet it is characterized by moderate depth. Moderate depth means higher solar radiation, which means algae (fitoplancton). The active geological area means higher water temperatures (that play havock with the local currents) and also a higher than normal silica content in the water; more silica in the water means more zooplancton (feeding off the fitoplancton), which means more fish.
If the place is 100 kms wide, it makes for a great Deep One breeding ground. And it's real close to R'lyeh.

About how deep is a "moderate" depth in this case? How detailed are the charts of the area (good enough for navigation close to the ocean floor without risk of collision with terrain?), and what sort of currents and the like would be encountered around the Louisville Ridge?

Second - In the light of the above geological discussion (which at least establishes the fact the the Louisville Ridge is not the quiet and insignificant geological structure we always imagined) a place that would be interesting to take a look at, searching for R'lyeh, would be around 55°S/118°W, where the Tharp Fracture Zone crosses the South Pacific Rise, an active ocean spreading line, at a depth of about 6000 feet.

6000 feet… There are a handful of deep submersibles capable of operating at this depth.

Of the DSVs in the USN inventory (or operated by academic contractors for the Navy), the nuclear-powered NR-1 is rated at only 3,000 feet, and the DSRVs (Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicles) "Mystic" (DSRV-1) and "Avalon" (DSRV-2) are rated to only 5,000 feet.

However, the three-place submersible "Alvin" (DSV-2), operated by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (in Massachussetts) for the Office of Naval Research, is capable of 20,000 feet operating depth with the titanium crew sphere installed during her 1972 refit. She has completed well over 2,000 dives, including photography of the "Titanic" in 1988.

Two other DSVs, built to the same design, are operated by the Navy's Submarine Development Squadron 5. "Turtle" (DSV-3) is rated at 10,000 foot operating depth, and her sister ship "Sea Cliff" (DSV-4) has had her original HY-100 steel crew sphere replaced in 1983 with a titanium sphere capable of 20,000 foot operations. ("Sea Cliff" in fact reached this depth for the first time in 1985, during a dive in the Middle America Trench off the Pacific coast of Central America. The DSV is capable of salvage work, as demonstrated in the fall of 1990, when it recovered both halves of a cargo door which tore away from a 747 inflight the previous year. They were recovered from a depth of 14,000 feet, approximately 87 nm SW of Hawaii. According to the Navy, the 20,000 foot depth capability "provides access to 98% of the ocean floor".)

All three DSVs are constructed of a fiberglass hull over the 7-foot metal crew sphere and the batteries and electric motors. The craft have television and still cameras, external lights, short-range sonars, and hydraulic remote-control manipulators. "Alvin" weighs 16T, "Turtle" weighs 21T, "Sea Cliff" weighs 29T, and any of the three can be transported by C-5 aircraft. "Alvin"'s normal support ship is Woods Hole's "Atlantis II", although she has on occasion been transported by appropriately equipped Navy Landing Ship Dock (LSD) vessels. "Turtle" and "Sea Cliff" have also been based from LSDs, or, more commonly, from Navy oceanographic vessels.

It is important to bear in mind that these DSVs have an endurance of 8 hours at 1 knot, or 1 hour at 2.5 knots. Due to their limited range and endurance, their mother ship should be certain to remain in the vicinity — we cannot afford a repeat of the fiasco from the Bowers Expedition! (Also, unlike the submersibles used by the Bowers Expedition, these DSVs have no lock-out capability — they cannot deploy divers — either SCUBA or hardsuited.)

Not so far from the canonical Lovecraftian location, the place has all the markings of a first class geological mess - blocks going up and down along faults, small quakes, with added weird temperature ranges, strange chemicals in the water, lots of endemic faunas…
Do we have someone at Wood's Hole facility to divert a deep sea vessel and support ship for the job? An armed ship as a backup is also recommended.

A great deal will depend upon the depth at which the survey is to be conducted, and the degree of risk anticipated. Manned survey at the 6,000 foot level would require use of one of the above DSVs. These are totally unarmed, and are by no stretch of the imagination combat capable. No combat capable submarine — not even the Russian Navy's titanium-hulled "Alfa" and "Sierra" class SSNs — has a 6,000 foot operating depth. I would urge survey at the 6,000 foot level be conducted by ROV to minimize risk of life.

For slightly shallower investigations, use can be made of one of the USN's two DSRVs, which could be airlifted to a suitable port by C-5B for linkup with an SSN, which would be ordered there for rendezvous. The 50-foot DSRV, designed for rescue of survivors from sunken submarines, can carry up to 24 personnel in addition to its 3-member crew, has a top speed of 4 knots, and, besides mounting an elaborate sonar suite and television cameras, spotlights, a manipulator arm, etc, has a ventral docking port enabling it to link up with the escape hatch of all operational USN and RN (and Russian?) SSNs.

I am not sure of current RN and Russian SSN assets in the Pacific, but a check of Pacific Fleet Submarine Forces at the COMSUBPAC site (http://www.csp.navy.mil) shows some three Submarine Groups and five Squadrons. COMSUBPAC HQ is located at Pearl Harbor Naval Base, in Hawaii, along with SUBRONs 1,3,and 7. The submarine base at San Diego, CA, is home to SUBDEVGRU 1, and SUBRON 11. SUBGRU 9 (SSBNs) and SUBRON 17 are located at the Submarine Base Bangor, Washington, while SUBGRU 7 is headquartered in Yokosuka, Japan.

Current Pearl Harbor based SSNs:

Los Angeles Class:

USS Los Angeles (SSN-688)

USS Bremerton (SSN-698)

USS San Francisco (SSN-711)

USS Buffalo (SSN-715)

USS Olympia (SSN-717)

USS Honolulu (SSN-718)

USS Key West (SSN-722)

USS Louisville (SSN-724)

USS Helena (SSN-725)

USS Colombus (SSN-762)

USS Charlotte (SSN-766)

USS Tucson (SSN-770)

USS Columbia (SSN-771)

Sturgeon Class:

USS Hawkbill (SSN-666)

USS WIlliam H. Bates (SSN-680)

USS Batfish (SSN-681)

Converted Benjamin Franklin SSBN (Special Warfare Transport, classed SSN):

USS Kamehameha (SSN-642)

Current San Diego based SSNs:

Los Angeles Class:

USS La Jolla (SSN-701)

USS Portsmouth (SSN-707)

USS Houston (SSN-713)

USS Salt Lake City (SSN-716)

USS Chicago (SSN-721)

USS Pasadena (SSN-752)

USS Topeka (SSN-754)

USS Asheville (SSN-758)

USS Jefferson City (SSN-759)

Sturgeon Class:

USS Pogy (SSN-647)

Current Bangor, WA based SSNs:

Converted Sturgeon Class:

USS Parche (SSN-683)

(Consult the USN Factfile at http://chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/factfile/ships/ship-ssn.html for additional data on thse submarines. Also, several of these boats have their own homepages.)

My recommendation for an SSN to survey "Godzilla" and its environs is, curiously enough, not one of the "Los Angeles" class boats which form the backbone of the current USN SSN fleet. My suggestion is USS "Parche" (SSN-683), of Submarine Development Squadron 5.

(The Squadron has a webpage at http://www.csp.navy.mil/csds5/sds5home.htm)

(SSN-683 has a page at http://www.csp.navy.mil/csds5/SSN683.HTM)

"Parche", namesake of one of the most highly decorated subs to serve in the Pacific Fleet during WWII, was commissioned in 1973, and is an older design than the "Los Angeles" class, not as fast, but at least as deep-diving (estimated operating depth of 1,000 feet). She was a fairly normal "Sturgeon" class SSN until an extended overhaul (1987-1991) at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, in which she had her nuclear reactor refueled and was "modified for research and development", adding a 100-foot extension to her hull, just forward of the control room and sail, to bring her total length up to just over 401 feet, and submerged displacement to 7,800 tons. As can be seen in the photos at: http://www.csp.navy.mil/csds5/CSDS5IMG/PARCHE.JPG, and: http://www.subnet.com/FLEET/ssn683.htm, the extended hull is readily noticeable when the submarine is surfaced.

Other sources indicate that the "research and development" function of the extended hull includes intelligence gathering and underwater salvage. Reportedly, the "Parche" can support covert intelligence-gathering operations similar to IVY BELLS and HOLYSTONE, and a remote grapple extended through a hatch in the submarine's keel can salvage relatively small items from the ocean floor (such as missiles, nuclear warheads, satellites, etc.)

Like all the "Sturgeon" class, "Parche" is of ice-strengthened construction, with reinforced sail incorporating diving planes capable of pivoting 90 degrees (vertical) to avoid damage when the boat crashes through ice to surface. Besides her bow-mounted sonar (in that location to isolate it the maximum distance from her screw), she mounts short-range navigational sonars (both upward and forward facing) plus armored spotlights and closed-circuit television cameras for under-ice operations.

"Parche" carries a ship's complement of 179 (including 22 officers). She has a self-defense capability equal to the other units of the "Sturgeon" class — four 21-inch diameter torpedo tubes (two to a side, amidships, angled out from the centerline) capable of firing Mk 48 torpedoes (see: http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/factfile/weapons/wep-torp.html) or Harpoon or Tomahawk antiship missiles. (These submarines do not normally carry nuclear weapons.)

The SSN's crew is accustomed to "special" operations, and would pose a low security risk. The ventral salvage hatch of this SSN would allow operation of unmanned vehicles for survey work in locations too deep (or otherwise too hazardous) for the "Parche" herself. (See: http://www.csp.navy.mil/csds5/umv.htm)

In addition, the current Commander in Chief, US Pacific Fleet (CINCPACFLT), ADM Archie Clemins, once served as XO of the "Parche" (see: http://www.cpf.navy.mil/pages/cpforgan/clemcinc.htm), and the current CO of SUBDEVRON 5 spent six years as CO of the "Parche". (See: http://www.csp.navy.mil/csds5/CSDS5.HTM) If approached appropriately, these two officers could likely help expedite matters…


Date: Sat, 28 Nov 1998 18:33:22 +0100
From: Davide Mana

Okay, do we know if this original article is available on the Net somewhere?

The abstract is here:

http://www.geosociety.org/pubs/0998geo.htm

Not much, but we're working on it.


Date: Sat, 28 Nov 1998 12:55:45 -0500
From: "Jimmie Bise, Jr."

Not much, but we're working on it.

I also found an Article on Nature Online at

http://www.nature.com

But you have to subscribe to both the magazine and the web site (at least the site registration is free) to get to it…


Date: Sat, 28 Nov 1998 12:59:43 -0500
From: Graeme Price

Okay, do we know if this original article is available on the Net somewhere?

It is (at www.nature.com - use the search engine, but you have to log in), but unfortunately you have to be a full subscriber to Nature to get it (most certainly not free, I'm afraid). I'm not, I'm afraid. Not sure about the original Geology paper, but I would suspect this isn't available on line either. In the original post I made on the topic, I actually retyped the full nature article verbatim (sans picture unfortunately).

However, on the bright side, most libraries worth their salt should have a subscription to Nature and a photocopier… so it's probably one up to the old methods in this case! Davide and Michael's excellent follow-up material should be a big help though.


Date: Sat, 28 Nov 1998 13:45:29 -0500
From: "Jimmie Bise, Jr."

Thanks Graeme…I'm a subscriber to the Nature web site, but not to the magazine, which severely limits what I can do with the web site. My search didn't even reveal the issue it was in, so if you have that, I'll trundle down to the old Library and make a photocopy. this is one that's really interesting me a whole lot. I checked out the abstract that Davide suggested and found it to be every bit as abstract as its name. thank goodness they used the word "and" a couple times, or I wouldn't have understood a single word in it! <chuckles>

By the way, y'all are doing great work on this. This list has some truly incredible minds working on it…


Date: Sat, 28 Nov 1998 22:35:30 +0100
From: Davide Mana

Jimmie wrote

I checked out the abstract that Davide suggested and found it to be every bit as abstract as its name. thank goodness they used the word "and" a couple times, or I wouldn't have understood a single word in it! <chuckles>

You asked for it…

The Fully Annotated

"Subduction obstruction and the crack-up of the Pacific plate"

Christopher Small, Dallas Abbott, Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964

Quoting from article:

ABSTRACT
We consider two hypotheses for the origin of a linear trough extending ~800 km eastward from the intersection of the Louisville seamount chain with the Tonga-Kermadec trench.

First interesting bit. The lineation these guys are considering is _not_ the Louisville Ridge, but a secondary lineation. So either I got the Nature article wrong, or that selfsame article was not clear.

Quoting from article:

An extinct spreading center origin is suggested by the trough's eastward termination at a depth discontinuity that resembles a fracture zone.

Possibility ( = common wisdom): the through is an old aborted spreading center, that is to say a rift like the Mid Atlantic one, or the Pacific Rise, but that never grew up to its full development. A place where the crust cracks and the two pieces go opposite way (ocean crust is produced in-between by outpouring magma). The fact that the through ends somewhere east in a fracture zone supports this interpretation (I wonder why).

Quoting from article:

The morphology of the trough, however, is inconsistent with the morphology of other extinct spreading centers, and these two features do not appear to be connected to a larger paleo-plate boundary on their eastern end.

But they don't like the above mentioned theory, you see. First of all, the through is the wrong shape; it should be straight and broken in segments by trasversal faults (again, take a look at the mid-atlantic rift pictured on an atlas to get an idea), and look like a corrugation, a channel with two levees by the side. And the fracture zone should not be the end of it, but only an intermission. So what?

Quoting from article:

We consider an alternative hypothesis in which the trough may be a recent rift in the Pacific plate.

Which means: this is not the old scar, all that remains in a place where once the crust broke. No, this is the crust breaking now.

Quoting from article:

Coupling between a large subducting seamount and the overriding Australian plate may serve as a mechanism to focus stresses and nucleate a rift in the subducting Pacific plate. In this model, the seamount would act as a rigid indenter producing tangential extension in the subducting plate about the region where it is coupled to the overriding plate.

The Godzilla syndrome.
Let's look at the model once again.
The South Pacific is slowly (5 inches/year - pretty fast, actually, in geological terms) sliding under the Australian plate. A lot of forces are at play, here.

First, to get under Australia, the Pacific crust has to overcome the buoyancy caused by the plastic, denser mantle underneath. Then, there's the attrition between the top of the Pacific plate and the bottom of Australia, that scrape against each other as they move (think in terms of sliding two rough sandpaper sheets one against the other). And we are dealing with thousands of meters of _rock_, floating over _molten rock_, which means terrific pressures and temperatures.

Godzilla works as a catch. It's an ugly, rigid overgrowth, a 100 kms mole on the skin of the Pacific plate, and it jams the whole mechanism. But the engine moving the whole shebang (deep seated convection cells in the mantle) is still working, pushing Pacifica and Australia one against the other. So a lot of pressure is concetrated on poor little Godzilla. And as Godzilla does not yeld (the bastard!), it's the plate that cracks open, to discharge part of the accumulated pressure. And if the crus has to break, it does so in an already weakened area.

Quoting from article:

Impeded subduction is suggested by a prominent seismicity gap around the subducting seamount.

Have no idea of what connection there's between a seismicity gap (an area through which seismic waves do not travel - usually liquids cause this) and impeded subduction.

Quoting from article:

The graben morphology of the trough is also consistent with an extensional origin.

A graben is an common extensional feature, usually the first stage in the birth of an ocean.
A rock body is cut by a series of vertical faults and then pulled apart.
As a result, the different blocks slide one along the other, the outer-most less than the innermost, therefore creating a valley with sides that look like steps in a stair…

The African Rift Valley (famous for the Afar fossil remains) has this kind of morphology.

Incidentally, the following step is an inversion of the topography, because the fracture reaches the mantle and magma erupts, pushing up the blocks. This is what we have in the already mentioned (ad nauseam) Mid-Atlantic Rift. So you end up calling Rift two things that look oe the opposite of the other - that's geology for you.

Quoting from article:

If hotspot volcanism can produce obstructions and local weaknesses conducive to plate coupling, stress localization, and nucleation of fractures, it may provide a mechanism for subduction-induced plate reorganizations.

Aaaaargh!
This is really as bad as it seems.
For hotspot volcanism think "Hawaii islands".
One of the best examples to get the thing straight is the Davis classic: imagine placing a lit welding torch under a slowly turning LP. The flame stays in the same place, but the hole and the molten vinyl change position on the LP's surface, creating a line of weakened and reorganized material. It's generally accepted that hot spots (that is, stable upwellings of hot magma from the mantle through the moving crust) can be the first symptom of a rifting phase: the hot welding torch under the LP weakens the vinyl so that's easy to pull apart two pieces of the record (that separate along a line produced by the torch in the first place).

These guys consider Godzilla a product of hot-spot magma accumulation, like all of the Hawaii islands are - molten rock piling up and cooling to create mountains.

So, they say, not only hot spots weaken the crust in the classical way (by punching a series of aligned holes in the crust), but they also jam the subduction mechanism (when something like Godzilla happens), and by acting as focuses for stress, control plate movement direction.

[Consider a sliding plate to be a big fat book sliding on a polished floor. Consider a stress focus (Godzilla) as a table leg. When the sliding book hits the table leg, it rotates this way or that. The table leg has influenced the movement vectors of the big fat book.]

All in all, they conclude, the hot spots play a much importan part in general tectonics than is commonly believed: not only they determine the lines along which the plates will fracture, but also the direction in which plates will slide.

And finally content of having done a sparkling good job, they go down to the pub and get beastly drunk to celebrate (alcoholism being a professional hazard of geology).

And here I rest my case. I can see that all you non geologists out there will take all of the above with a big "So what?"
Actually, the subject is interesting from a theoretical pont of view, but I see I don't have the background to get deeper into it. I'm a mass extintion kind of guy, sedimentation is my rock-forming process of choice.


Date: Sat, 28 Nov 1998 17:01:56 +0100
From: Davide Mana

Yesterday was a bad day at the Turin Geology Department Library.

First - the copy of "Geology" magazine with the foundamental article is missing; apparently someone checked it out without filling the form, and then failed to give it back. Conspiracy, or bad education on the part of a staff member?

Second - the Incredibly Pretty Librarian is going, to be replaced with the new year by an absolutely repulsive critter that sports the worst case of Innsmouth Look I ever saw this side of the Atlantic, and a trekkie to boot.

Despite this bad start, I've been able to collect a few interesting bits (including the IPL's home phone, but that's not relevant at the moment). Be warned. This message will be even more rambling than usual.

After complimenting Michael for the great job about the resources (great!), I'll start with his questions

About how deep is a "moderate" depth in this case?

From the maps I have at hand, I can only say "less than 5000 feet", which is not much as a depth range to be working on. I meant moderate in respect of your usual deep sea trench depth (that's over 23000 feet).

The Godzilla thing must be actually very dramathic, from a graphical point of view: imagine a 100 km wide, dark-green/black rock plateau, about 4000 feet under water, surrounded by a 20.000+ feet chasm. Black smokers surround it with their plumes and a thing that looks like a big white cloud (siliceous plancton) slowly turns anti-cyclone like over it, pouring down a steady snow-storm of minute dead algae. And no light (not natural, not that deep).
Impressive.

How detailed are the charts of the area (good enough for navigation close to the ocean floor without risk of collision with terrain?),

Given the depths we are dealing with, collision with terrain is an ulikely (if terribly definitive) occurrence ;->
Seriously, however, this might just be one of those places where our knowledge of the seafloor proves less than sufficient. That sector of the Pacific has so far been overlooked. On the other hand, the area has been studied by geologists on an on-off basis these last 35 years (more on this later), so that probably there's more navigational aids gathering dust in academical institutions than we imagine.

and what sort of currents and the like would be encountered around the Louisville Ridge?

I do not have a detailed sea currents map for that area.
I can improvise something, though: deep sea trench means higher thermal flux through the ocean floor, which means upwelling of warmer water, and therefore a strong and steady vertical circulation cell more or less over Godzilla (the cause of my postulated white plancton cloud in the above description).

A strong northward-bound deep cold current along the Louisville Ridge is likely, and probably rather turbulent; and above this one another, warmer and going in the other direction: the more superficial south-bound, eastern component of the great South Pacific circulation cell, what's called Humboldt Current along the coast of Peru. But as I said, the place is a mess.

More water circulation data could be available, however, courtesy of "El Nino", and the monitoring network that's been established over the last few years to keep an eye on the thing.
While it's true that the network is centered in the equatorial area of the Pacific, a thread of the web goes south from the equator down to New Zealand, and passes almost exactly over the Tonga Trench and Godzilla. Data about currents and weather should be available at

http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/togatao/realtime.html

or thereabouts.

I know it's not much, but it's all I've been able to improvise this morning.

But back to geology, and all the rest.

Black smokers (sea-floor vents that pour forth clouds of manganese oxides of idrothermal origin) are most likely to sprout at the base of Godzilla's cliffs.

Often, each one of these is surrounded by a small, unique ecosystem.

As already stated, the water chemistry can really be a mess, and include lots of those big bad chemicals I mentioned in another, unrelated post.

The heath flux causes the deep water to be warmer than normal, and less sluggish in its circulation, so that oxigen is a little higher in concentration than in your usual deep sea floor environment.

Sediment input on the plateau is almost nil, apart from direct flocculation of clays from the water and the steady pour of organic residues from the upper water-mass.

On the other hand, the area is tectonically active, so that earthquakes and related phenomena (rock-slides, turbidity currents etc) are rather frequent and are a clear hazard for the exploration.

But I saved the best bit about Godzilla for last.

Despite the sensationalistic tone of the article that started the ball rolling, we (meaning we Geologists) have known Godzilla ever since 1967. [no Honda jokes, please]

In that year two chaps called Oliver and Isaaks found out, through seismic tomography, that a 100 kms thick slab of crust and _mantle_ material is rammed between the Pacific Plate and the Australian Plate, just were Tonga and Kermadec trenches join. The extremely dense mantle rocks (no less than 3000 meters) probably make up the core of Godzilla.

Without going into all the structural geology mumbo-jumbo, this could be consistent with the hypothesis that Louisvill Ridge was once a fracture zone not too different from the Atlantic Ridge. The wedge of mantle stuff is probably a relic, caught up between the plates when the stress regime changed, and spreading turned into compression [a bit like what's happening under the coast of Peru, where subduction is consuming the Pacific Rise].
Compression pushed the 100 km thick slab upward, jamming it into the trench.

The exact mantle rock emplacement mechanism is still highly debated, but once considered a curious anomaly is today a phenomenon often recognized in the field. Something similar happens in the Mediterranean, for instance.

The Godzilla of the Mediterranean is called Cyprus.
Genesis and structure are exactly the same, even if Cyprus is smaller, younger and, well, over the surface (Mediterranean being shallower than Pacifica).

For the rest, the two are one and the same, from a geological point of view. I'd be extremely surprised, therefore, should Godzilla not prove rich in gold, copper, tin, nickel and possibly iron. And huge quantities of a dark green, heavy stone (peridotite), barely covered by a thin layer of silica ooze (as there's no other sedimentary input in the area). And garnets, like in cartloads.

Now we have lots of reasons for a Deep One colony on Godzilla: a nicely secluded place, but still close to both the various island settlements in the area (girls!), including Ponape, and not too far from R'lyeh, with lots of food, easy to get and easy to work metals for tools, abundant black peridotite to build huge black cities.

And here I stop and tarry, reaching for my copy of Encyclopedia Cthuliana. Looking under Deep Ones, I find a documented DO settlement by the coast of Cornwall (Ahu Y'hloa), another area where tin and copper mineralization (this time caused by plutonic emplacement, IIRC) is well documented. Curious.

Makes me wonder about the two other known Deep One settlements, in North Sea (where crust thinning and increased heat-flow are documented, and ore deposits likely) and off the Massachusetts coast - where a plutonic enrichment in metals could be possible.

Any info about Indian tribes using tin or copper tools, say, around 6500 b.C. on the East coast? I found some reference about Canada in that age window, but Canada's mighty big.

Are the Sea Devils mining the oceans like the Sky Devils are mining our mountains?

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