Ancient rocks of Tetons formed by continental collisions
Saturday, January 30, 2016 - 13:30
in Earth & Climate
Plate tectonics were operating in what is now western Wyoming long before the collisions that created the Himalayas starting 40 million years ago. The researchers reached their conclusions by analyzing ancient, exposed granite in the northern Teton Range and comparing it to similar rock in the Himalayas. The rocks were formed from magma produced by what is known as decompression melting, a process that commonly occurs when two continental tectonic plates collide.