Most of us believe that soil erosion - the main reason for decline and fall off the mountain. But geologists have recently discovered that the mountain of Oahu in Hawaii is dissolved from the inside due to groundwater. The rock was so prone to leaching by water currents that literally melts the mountain itself every year.
Someday the mountain on the island of Oahu Koolau Mountains and Viana disappear and turn into the islands themselves are flat and low-lying, as Midway. But not because of erosion. Scientists believe that in fact the mountains of Oahu dissolve inside water.
We were trying to figure out how to quickly settle the island and not on whether it is the climate, - said geologist Steve Nelson of the private Brigham Young University (BYU). - Oahu lose more species than if the wind carried away by erosion.
A study was conducted sediment groundwater flow in order to verify the composition of its constituent minerals. Nelson and his colleagues at BYU for two months collected geochemical samples. In addition, they helped the U.S. Geological Survey, giving its existing presence in the results of studies of samples of water and soil from these sites. This allowed the team to Steve Nelson calculate how decreasing the mountain for a year.
Predict the future of the island can only be given tectonic plates, at the edge of which it stands. Oahu as it faces underground forces to the north-west - and the island is really growing in height, slowly but steadily. Researchers estimate that Oahu will continue to grow in geological terms is still very long - only 1.5 million years old. And then the power of groundwater will cause the island of majestic mountains turn into a dreary plain.
Mineralogical analysis of soil samples, made in the laboratory student Brian Cellcom, co-author of the study, a surprise - in the volcanic soil of the island, a so-called saprolite - igneous rock altered by chemical weathering, popularly known as rotten stone. I was most surprised by the presence in the saprolite large amount of quartz - in samples taken at the depth of one meter - says Selke.
