NS: A rift is growing under the Atlantic, threatening powerful earthquakes and tsunamis

Scientists note that the Atlantic has traditionally been considered a calm zone, but Portugal has repeatedly experienced strong earthquakes, which prompted the scientific community to think about their causes.

Thus, over the past 50 years, scientists have repeatedly tried to find the cause of the earthquakes of 1755 and 1969. As a result, after comparing observational data and the results of computer modeling of the abyssal plain southwest of Portugal, signs of mantle stratification were discovered.

This delamination allowed seawater to penetrate the rocks, weakening them over millions of years, which led to the formation of a new major subduction zone in the Atlantic Ocean.

"We suggest that such oceanic delamination may facilitate the onset of subduction – a long-unresolved problem in plate tectonic theory – and may be responsible for some of Europe's strongest earthquakes, including the Great Lisbon earthquake of 1755 and the Sao Vicente earthquake of 1969," the paper says.

Scientists also note that in the future this problem could cause powerful earthquakes, tsunamis and the movement of lithospheric plates, which could even result in the unification of Africa, Europe and America into one supercontinent.