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Earth science

How old roots lose their bounce

Active mountain belts have crustal 'roots' that gravitationally balance the high topography. So why do old mountains that have been worn flat by erosion still have these roots?

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Figure 1: Mountain building at 'collisional' boundaries, and the fate of crustal roots.

References

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Correspondence to David James.

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James, D. How old roots lose their bounce. Nature 417, 911–913 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/417911a

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