Researchers at the University of Utah have reported that the reason we are able to keep ourselves afloat is the massive natural engine of Earth that heats it’s interior.
Without this internal heat all the major cities of Earth would have been hundreds of feet below sea level. In an estimate, researchers have stated that mile-high Denver would be 727 feet below sea level, New York would have been a quarter-mile below and Los Angeles would be almost three-quarters of a mile below the Pacific Ocean.
They also stated that if this engine is shut down then most of the United States would drown, except for some major Western Mountain ranges.
These researchers also stated that the heat inside Earth accounts for more than half the reason why land rises above sea level and forms mountains. Previously it was thought that the density and the makeup of rocks and the tectonic forces were the main reasons for this elevation of land.
However, these researchers have failed to tell what makes heat keep these rocks less dense and more buoyant, but future research can positively give an answer to this query also.
Researchers have also commented that the heat inside Earth’s interior and from the radioactive decay of Uranium, thorium and potassium in Earth’s crust will stay around for a long time to come, and even if the heat generating engine is cooled right now it would take billions of years for the continents to sink.
Via: Yahoo
