![\"The](\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/lazy-load-0.7\/images\/1x1.trans.gif\" "\\"1,000km")
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Pexels<\/p>\n
Our planet is covered in mountains and ridges, deep caves and canyons \u2013 and for the most part, we take that for granted.<\/p>\n
Sure they have a lot of wow-factor, but even when you visit these natural wonders, do you take even a moment to contemplate how they were formed?<\/p>\n
For the majority of people, the answer is no. But luckily, there are researchers all over the world probing into how and why the Earth has formed how it has.<\/p>\n
And according to a new study<\/a> published in the journal\u00a0Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, one huge submarine canyon that lies 1,000 kilometers off the coast of Portugal has particularly fascinating origins.<\/p>\n GEOMAR<\/p>\n Known as The King\u2019s Trough Complex, the canyon is an awe-inspiring underwater series of trenches and basins, including one of the deepest points of the Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>\n But why has this complex formed in such a way \u2013 and why did it do so at the point in the ocean where it did?<\/p>\n According to the researchers, this was due to a fracture in the Earth\u2019s crust at a historic plate boundary between Europe and Africa, over 24 million years ago, proving long-held suspicions, as Dr Antje D\u00fcrkef\u00e4lden explained in a statement<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cResearchers have long suspected that tectonic processes \u2013 that is, movements of the Earth\u2019s crust \u2013 played a central role in the formation of the King\u2019s Trough. Our results now explain for the first time why this remarkable structure developed precisely at this location.\u201d<\/p>\n Pexels<\/p>\n But that wasn\u2019t the end of the researchers\u2019 findings. In fact, the unusual nature of this canyon complex was not just because of the rupture in the Earth\u2019s crust; it was in part because, before the crust tore apart, the crust had been particularly thick because of mantle plume at the location \u2013 a rising of molten rock.<\/p>\n And this upwelling of material from the Earth\u2019s mantle ultimately made the Trough what it is today, as researcher Dr J\u00f6rg Geldmacher continued:<\/p>\n \u201cThis thickened, heated crust may have made the region mechanically weaker, so that the plate boundary preferentially shifted here. When the plate boundary later moved further south towards the modern Azores, the formation of the King\u2019s Trough also came to a halt.\u201d<\/p>\n The King\u2019s Trough Complex has been stable for a long time now, it\u2019s magnificent structure evidence of how the Earth\u2019s geophysics has pieced together the world we see today.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n