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Mantle plume vs. plate tectonics: Basalt cores reshape the North Atlantic breakup debate
- February 18, 2026 at 7:23 PM
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About 56 million years ago, Europe and North America began pulling apart to form what became the ever-expanding North Atlantic Ocean. Vast amounts of molten rock from Earth's mantle reached the ocean floor as the crust stretched and thinned, creating a volcanic, rifted margin between Norway and Greenland, a marine feature that has intrigued scientists for decades.
Originally published at Phys.org