USU Sunrise Session

USU Sunrise Session


Water Tectonics and the Roots of Utah's Earthquakes

October 30, 2015

For decades, scientists have thought of mountain-building and earthquakes as expressions of thermal processes deep in the Earth’s mantle… But imaging of the roots of North America over the last five years tells us the deep Earth doesn’t look at all like we thought it would. Now it appears that an important contributor to Utah’s mountain vistas and restless faults is one we weren’t even looking for: Water.