Our data argue that the mantle just accumulates down there until some critical moment when it becomes unstable and drops off. |
These results really change the paradigm of understanding of how mountain belts grow. We've always assumed that the folding and faulting in the upper crust produced high elevation mountains. Now we have data on ancient mountain elevation that shows something else is responsible for the mountains' uplift. |
When I first showed this data to others, they had a hard time believing that mountains could pop up so quickly. |