Uncovering the mysteries of Sweden’s mountains
Scientists are just finished drilling Sweden’s deepest hole, and they hope it will reveal secrets about how the Himalayas were formed.
The long stretch of mountains running along Sweden and Norway were once as high as the Himalayas.
And Swedish scientists are hoping to talk a look into the past, back hundreds of millions of years, by taking out a slice of mountain, all the way down to the roots.
“We’ve drilled a two and a half kilometre hole, to investigate how the mountain range was formed,” says geologist Henning Lorenz, from Uppsala University, to Swedish Radio.
The Scandinavian mountains, the Caledonides, were formed 400 million years ago. Henning Lorenz says if they know how Sweden’s mountains were formed, they can learn a lot about younger mountains ranges, like the Himalayas.
The drill that has gone down two and a half kilometres is near the Åre ski resort. It is Sweden’s deepest hole, and took from April to sink.
There are five areas scientists are looking into, reports Swedish Radio Jämtland: new inforamtion on how geothermal currentls work inside mountains; how water is moving around; what life is like down there for the baceteria, and also geophysics.
Björn Almkvist, a geophysicist at Uppsala university, sayssays you can see the elastic characteristics of the mountain, how hard it is. And also how magnetic and electrical forces work.
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: Canada’s prime minister announces launch of Arctic research program, Eye on the Arctic
Russia: Blog – Melting permafrost eroding Siberian coasts, Deutsche Welle’s Iceblogger
Sweden: Swedish waters rising faster than global average, Radio Sweden
United States: Acoustic sensors give scientists a new perspective in the Arctic, Alaska Public Radio Network
