Missing:

[Owlscrying]

Mar. 5

LONDON (Reuters) - A team of British scientists has set sail on a voyage to examine why a huge chunk of the earth's crust is missing, deep under the Atlantic Ocean -- a phenomenon that challenges conventional ideas about how the earth works.

The 20-strong team aims to survey an area some 3,000 to 4,000 metres deep where the mantle -- the deep interior of the earth normally covered by a crust kilometres thick -- is exposed on the sea floor.

Experts describe the hole along the mid-Atlantic ridge as an "open wound" on the ocean floor that has puzzled scientists for the five or so years that its existence has been known because it defies existing tectonic plate theories of evolution.

"We know so little about it," said Bramley Murton, a senior research scientist at Southampton's National Oceanography Center.

"It's a real challenge to our established understanding of what the earth's surface looks like underneath the waves," he told Reuters by telephone from the brand new, hi-tech British research ship RRS James Cook.

Mid ocean ridges are places where new oceanic crust is born, with red-hot lava spewing out along the seafloor.

What scientists are keen to know is whether the crust was ripped away by huge geological faults, or whether it never even developed in the first place.

The primary motivation for the project was to understand how the earth continues to evolve.

"The area that we are looking at is part of a mountain range that spans thousands of square kilometres, but we are beginning to realize that there are probably millions of square kilometres where the ocean floor is missing," Murton said.

The six week mission, led by geophysicist Roger Searle of Durham University and Chris MacLeod of Cardiff University's School of Earth, Ocean and Planetary Sciences, will recover sample cores of rock by drilling into the mantle using a rig lowered on to the sea floor.

Asked if the discovery posed a threat to the environment, Murton replied: "It's not problematic for the earth because it is a natural earth process -- but in terms of knowing how the earth works and how the world is put together it is important."

Murton also said the expedition would shed light on the composition of sea water amongst other initiatives.

Crust formation is a fundamental mechanism of the earth which affects the chemistry of the world's oceans.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070305/sc_nm/...smDCBA4vhwbr7sF

[crystal sage]

....One of the entrances and proof to Hollow Earth!!!

[coughymachine]

Now I know nothing about nothing when it comes to this sort of thing, but my immediate, and probably very naive, thought was 'the moon'. I've either heard or read about one theory that suggests the moon formed as the result of a large body hitting the earth and flinging matter out into orbit, which eventually coalesced to form the moon.

It is possible that this missing section of crust is the impact site?

[carini]

Now I know nothing about nothing when it comes to this sort of thing, but my immediate, and probably very naive, thought was 'the moon'. I've either heard or read about one theory that suggests the moon formed as the result of a large body hitting the earth and flinging matter out into orbit, which eventually coalesced to form the moon.

It is possible that this missing section of crust is the impact site?

Ummmm, no.

[coughymachine]

Ummmm, no.

I figured it was nonesense even as I was writing it. Sometimes I wish I could just resist hitting the 'Add Reply' button.

[Shaftsbury]

I read somewhere it was more like a tear in the earth's crust, like what happens if you cut your skin and it pulls back away from the wound, or if you stretch plastic wrap past it's limits.

[Celumnaz]

It's a real challenge to our established understanding

Asked if the discovery posed a threat to the environment, Murton replied: "It's not problematic for the earth because it is a natural earth process

just *sigh*

challenge to understanding, definately not problematic because it's natural... humans and their waste are natural too, like a giant mound of guano by a beaver dam...

we don't understand it, and might be wrong about some things we currently think/have been thinking... not sure yet... but not a problem to environment for sure... no co2 and other gasses aren't trapped by water or released when heated

don't they ever say "we don't know, but are excited to find it and collect the data. we don't know if it's a problem or not or what its effects are. We're just letting you know what we found so far and hope to have more for you soon."

What I hear is more along the lines of "it's a challenge to our understanding, but the political debate over global warming is safe, we'll make sure of that no matter what the findings are"

At any rate, I'll bet if one were able to look at this tear it would be fairly awe inspiring. Pretty neat stuff

[Mattshark]

just *sigh*

challenge to understanding, definately not problematic because it's natural... humans and their waste are natural too, like a giant mound of guano by a beaver dam...

we don't understand it, and might be wrong about some things we currently think/have been thinking... not sure yet... but not a problem to environment for sure... no co2 and other gasses aren't trapped by water or released when heated

don't they ever say "we don't know, but are excited to find it and collect the data. we don't know if it's a problem or not or what its effects are. We're just letting you know what we found so far and hope to have more for you soon."

What I hear is more along the lines of "it's a challenge to our understanding, but the political debate over global warming is safe, we'll make sure of that no matter what the findings are"

At any rate, I'll bet if one were able to look at this tear it would be fairly awe inspiring. Pretty neat stuff

Erm human waste is not natural, we just don't want to take responsibilty for it.

Why are you so paranoid at global warming? It is not a conspiracy to stop you having a car you know, it is not a political thing outside of the US either.

[Celumnaz]

yes it is, you're right we don't

loaded question as I'm not. Depends what we're talking about, yes it is you just don't know it.

thanks for the attempt, good example... guess you don't have much to say about the story?

[Mattshark]

yes it is, you're right we don't

loaded question as I'm not. Depends what we're talking about, yes it is you just don't know it.

thanks for the attempt, good example... guess you don't have much to say about the story?

About the earth having some crust missing, there are many possibilities to why there it is missing, I don't understand how people think it can lend credance to the idea of a hollow earth as it is not a hole, just the is no crust.

No human waste plastics are not natural, plastic are artificial substances and are not degradeable so just throwing them away is not same as any animal waste.

Gloabl warming is real science whether youlike it or not, it not something made up by media, it may well be miss represented by the media, but all media does that all the time. But concensus amongst scientists is that it is human effected and the climate change is unprecedented in terms of change outside of mass extinction events. It really is not trying to stop you having a car, it is about actually having a planet to live upon.

[truethat]

This is the kind of discovery that bolsters my skepticism about the world of scientific answers. There is so much more that we do not know that I laugh when people think we have "figured things out" when there gaping holes and assumptions in their theories.

[recon_soldier]

It has been proven that the moon predates Earth, and it would not be a spherical object, which once housed Lava activity.

Well said once again True That.

We are truelly still young as a race, and have alot to learn - Things we once held as fact, have changed - And it will continue to do so . . Maybe one day. .

[Four Winds]

It has been proven that the moon predates Earth

Got a source for that statement? Not that I'm calling you out, but that one is news to me.