Some mountains can move in the blink of a geological eye. A new study finds evidence of surprisingly rapid upward movement of earth’s crust on the island of Taiwan. Over roughly half a million years, the Coastal Range of east Taiwan was rising at a rate of 9 to 14 millimeters per year, the research shows. While this seems imperceptibly slow by human standards, it’s quite fast for mountains. Much of the dramatic topography on the surface of the planet is formed by vertical movements of less than a millimeter per year. “The earth's surface can act extremely fast, way faster than most people imagine,” said Larry Syu-Heng Lai, a UO doctoral student who led the work alongside researchers at the UO and a team of collaborators in Taiwan. “These measurements of extreme rates are u...
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