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How old roots lose their bounce

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Active mountain belts have crustal 'roots' that gravitationally balance the high topography. So why do old mountains that have been worn flat by erosion still have these roots?

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Figure 1: Mountain building at 'collisional' boundaries, and the fate of crustal roots.

References

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  1. the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 5241 Broad Branch Road, NW, 20015, Washington DC, USA

    David James

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  1. David James
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Correspondence to David James.

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James, D. How old roots lose their bounce. Nature 417, 911–913 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/417911a

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