Finding “Pontos” in the Pacific Ocean, a huge tectonic plate missing on Earth (video)

with Publishing In the journal “Gondwana Research”, a research group led by scientists from Utrecht University in the Netherlands claims to have found traces, or as they say, “remnants” of a large tectonic plate that existed until recently on the surface of the Earth. planet.

It is a tectonic plate that was located in the western Pacific region, where the Philippines, Borneo, and the Indochina region (Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam) are located today. The size of this plate is estimated at about 25 million square kilometers. It was called “Pontos,” and geologists knew of its existence, but they have not made any discoveries about it yet.

The research team claims that the study it conducted by simulating oceanic rocks in the specified area indicates that some of these rocks belong to the missing tectonic plates. According to the researchers, Pontus has been present on the surface of the Earth for at least about 160 million years and although it has gradually diminished, some parts of it still exist until 20 million years ago, which is a very recent geological matter. a period of time.

According to the researchers, Pontos fell victim to the geological process of subduction, where one tectonic plate meets a neighboring tectonic plate and, due to gravity, sinks under the other and moves towards the planet’s mantle. Submerged tectonic plates leave behind some traces, specifically some of their rocks, in different parts of the land or sea, which are waiting for geologists to locate them.

The Western Pacific region in particular is considered the most geologically complex on this planet, as it served as a “crossroads” for many tectonic plates that met each other and left their traces there, forming a unique geological ecosystem that contains many types and ages of rocks, each of which has a piece of… The geological mystery of our planet and this area is a constant field of scientific research.

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