Tuesday 8th August 2006Varsity Theater, 1308 4th St Se Minneapolis, MN 55414-2029Caf Scientifique: Antimountains and the fate of New Orleans
With Chris Paola, St. Anthony Falls Research Laboratory
Tuesday, August 8th, 2006 6:00-8:00p.m. Varsity Theater, Dinkytown Free.
Most people know that mountains are the result of tectonic processes that force the Earth's crust upwards, creating spectacular relief and scenery, but few of us think about the opposite effect: how tectonics can alsoforce the crust downwards, producing equally spectacular deeps that we might fancifully term 'antimountains'. Antimountains-which are more correctly
called 'sedimentary basins'-provide us with fossil fuels, are home to farmore of the human population than mountains are, and in most cases are
still sinking. Which leads to problems like flooding such as we saw recently in New Orleans.
We will muse about how fossil fuels, patterns of human settlement, and
current problems like flooding are connected through the amazing but sometimes inconvenient dynamics of the outer part of the Earth.
