[meteorite-list] Asteroid Impacts May Have Triggered PlateTectonics(OT)

[Jerry]

Hi Elton, thanks for the input. I regret that I may have been too parochial 
in my presentation.
I merely used what I know about the geology of my locale, New England 
[which, as you aptly pointed out, needs considerable refinement] to present 
a fanciful possibility that meteorite chains impacting with enough force in 
strategic areas [hot spots, etc.] punching through the crust, might initiate 
separation of continental masses, creating new plate boundaries.
Thanks for the links. Unfortunately for me, they are familiar. Too much for 
me to retain and integrate but I keep trying. I figure in another 20 years 
or so, if I keep recognizing them I may be a step closer to understanding.
P.S. It is not impossible for rift valleys to exist at the foot of mountain 
ranges.
Jerry Flaherty
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mr EMan" <mstreman53 at yahoo.com>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2008 11:47 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Asteroid Impacts May Have Triggered 
PlateTectonics(OT)


> There is no evidence-- direct or inferred-- that the trace of the
> eastern shoreline of North America is impact influenced.  While much of
> what you relate is sequentially correct it co-mingles 700+ million
> years of geological history into a related event.  The Connecticut
> River  Valley is a rift valley and not a collision boundary--Otherwise
> it wouldn't be a Valley but the "Connecticut River Mountains"
>
>
> Perhaps you would like to "Muse this": Avalonia
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avalonia>
>
> And this link for the origins of the CRV Lava flows
> <http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/LivingWith/VolcanicPast/Places/volcanic_past_massachusetts.html>
>
> The lava flow, now seen as prominent ridgelines overlooking the valley
> lowlands, formed as basalt oozed out of faults associated with the
> Eastern Border Fault ...  the Connecticut Valley sequence is determined
> to be early Mesozoic -- from late Triassic through early Jurassic
> Periods. Between 190 and 194 my North America and Baltica rifted and
> basalt erupted from where Patterson NJ lies now, through The Pallasides
> on the Hudson up through the Conneticut River Valley on through the
> Berkshires. This rift zone accumulated several hundred feet of basalt.
> Here is what is said by the USGS CVO page:
>
> Elton
> --- Jerry <grf2 at verizon.net> wrote:
> ...My musing only takes into account the fact that the Connecticut
> River Valley, 100 miles from the coast, is thought to be the result a
> collision of ancient plate boundaries. The fact the the much later
> break-up occurred not there, at the Berkshire Mountains margin, but
> 100+ miles from the CRV, just made me wonder if another mechanism might
> be at work. Granted, the coastal region, at least where glacial debris
> has not cover it up, is host to a string of ancient extinct volcanoes
> 30 miles south of Boston through the Canadian Provinces across the
> Atlantic through the Celtic isles into Scandinavia. And the "brittle"
> nature of these lavas may be provide sufficient explanation for the
> modern continental configuration given appropriate stresses applied
> through the mechanism of tectonics. But musing doesn't cost much and
> cataclysm "of the mind" doesn't hurt.
>> Jerry Flaherty
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