Earth Driven by Internal Engine
Scientists at the University of Toronto are convinced that earthquakes, volcanoes, shifting continents and even climate change are driven by a type of heat engine working deep beneath the earth’s surface. They have developed a model of the inner workings of the earth that will help solve the mystery of why and how features on the surface of the planet are constantly changing.
“In effect, we have found that the solid earth is being churned by a four-piston heat engine with two immense sinking cold slabs and two equally large rising hot plumes,” says Alessandro Forte.
“We have discovered something grandiose in size and yet remarkably simple and symmetric,” adds co-researcher, Jerry Mitrovica.
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