The Green River in Colorado and Utah has puzzled geologists for decades.
How can a body of water defy the very laws of gravity? For decades, experts struggled to understand this truth. Thankfully, one university has found a few answers. This river should not exist in the way it does. But reality is often stranger than fiction.
How has a hidden geological force enabled the river to flow in the way it does?
How rivers and waterways reshape the planet we all live on
Rivers can leave us scratching our heads in confusion.
Most rivers follow the laws of nature. Carving around mountains to reshape the Earth we live on. But this river plays by its own rules. And for decades, geologists never understood why.
Regardless of the strength of the flow, almost all rivers flow downhill.
However, this particular river has played a game of chance with a mountain. And it won in ways we never thought possible. Hidden geological forces can reveal new ways that water can carve its own path.
Water is the key for all life to exist, and the Earth has a lot of water
Decades of study can reveal the hidden geological forces on Earth.
These forces play out in a hidden world we know little about. Gravity determines which way water flows. But gravity alone can not explain how one river defies logic. So how can this waterway flow uphill?
Scientists have spent a lifetime studying the oceans and waterways of the planet we all share.
How the Earth releases energy through water flow is amazing. Water can be soft, but it can also be remarkably powerful. So powerful that it can carve a path through mountains.
The Earth’s hidden geological forces reshape parts of the world.
Our planet’s waterways are delicate. And it can be devastated under the wrong circumstances. But this river in Colorado has set its own line in the sand. Behaving like a child, refusing to follow the Earth’s rules.
The University of Glasgow has led a new mission to study the Green River in Colorado and Utah.
What they found points to a strange geological force in the region. What this might be has left us with more questions. Thankfully, the iconic Scottish University has found the answers.
An iconic river that follows its own path and beats its own drum
Dr Adam Smith has attempted to understand the Green River’s unusual path through the Uinta Mountains. His team found that the river carved a unique path that puzzled geologists for decades.
The hidden world of water has confounded science for decades. But we are getting more answers in recent times.
The Scottish University found that the Green River carved a unique path through the Uinta Mountain range. It did so via what they have dubbed “lithospheric drips”. So what exactly is this hidden geological force? And how did it enable the river to defy physics?
They found the riverbed’s crust broke off and sank into the Earth’s mantle. This allowed the Green River to plot a new path through the mountain range.
Seismic imaging has revealed that the crust broke off roughly 2-5 million years ago. Enabling the river to carve a path through the mountains as opposed to flowing around them.
After a few thousand years, the mantle beneath the Green River rose once again. Locking the river in place and allowing it to essentially flow “uphill”.
By relying on satellite and geomapping technology, we can now study the planet in far greater detail. The deformation of the Earth can play out in several ways. But this one takes the cake.
So far, it is the only river known that can flow through a mountain range.