This episode is brought to you by the Music for Scientists album! Stream the album on major music services here: biglink.to/music-for-scientists. Check out the “For Your Love" music video here: alfirst.info/load/jXyhmq3JaZl0qJc/video.
Geologists have a few ideas as to how rain affects mountains. But could rain also help mountains grow?
Hosted by: Stefan Chin
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Sources:
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201016143049.htm
advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/42/eaaz3166
www.britannica.com/science/erosion-geology
www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-erosion-builds-mountains-2005-07/
www.britannica.com/science/isostasy-geology
serc.carleton.edu/vignettes/collection/31853.html
www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.earth.32.101802.120539
www.britannica.com/science/fault-geology
www.nature.com/articles/ngeo413
www.nature.com/articles/nature11982
sp.lyellcollection.org/content/specpubgsl/268/1/1.full.pdf
www.geo.umass.edu/structure/analog_models/Erosion_MountBuilding.pdf
How Rain Might Make Mountains Grow
979 Shikime 99 mijë
This episode is brought to you by the Music for Scientists album! Stream the album on major music services here: biglink.to/music-for-scientists. Check out the “For Your Love" music video here: alfirst.info/load/jXyhmq3JaZl0qJc/video.
@grn dragon a
If this result depends entirely on a computer model then there is a high chance that that model could be influenced by the programmer's own biases and assumptions - aka not 100% reliable
Snow packs make the mountains shrink due to the weight. The past few years there was a study on the sierra mountain range.
Instructions unclear cuased puroclastic flow
How do mountains grow on plants and moons where it doesn't rain ?
👏👏👏 More b.s from scishow. Thank you so much, may I have some more?
Hopefully it doesnt tip over
Isostatic Equilibrium... I still remember that test in geophysics. I think only 4 of us passed that exam
Now THAT'S exciting Science!! After your explanation, it made perfect sense.
Wouldn't glacial melt still ultimately be considered "rain"?
Do you feel okay man you look rough
Water a mountain to make it grow
Anyone else started tilting their head to offset?
Oily
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axle en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotation_around_a_fixed_axis
How would peeing on a mountain effect it? I just want want to help.
As non-native English speaker I had to google "glistening" because that's what you are, dear Presenter, you are shiny like someone put you in a drum of Baby-oil
There is a lot of idiocy in science. Derp aquifers, etc. Etc. Are generated by rainfall which creates erosion. Science done by idiots is unnecessarily complicated and a stupid waste. The real science is proving this generates tectonic uplift, rather than a static hold because of solid rock structures.
I'm wondering also if added rainfall contributes to higher quantities of biomass that then become layers of soil compacted over time. For instance would mountains in a rainforest grow taller and larger faster than same mountains in a desert climate with similar tectonic activity.
This episode is a bit absurd because it does not explain what is the reference level taken to measure the height of a mountain. The erosion impact is interesting though and new to me.
I miss you on SciSchow Tangents 😢
How about a simple correlation study of age of mountains vs height. My hypothesis is old mountains are low, young mountains are higher. Plot, correlate, Ta Da!! Young, high mountains erode to low, old mountains then throw in rainfall vs height and rock hardness vs height correlations. Draw conclusions. My is rainfall does not make mountains higher. Sorry John Denver.
One time in my high school ancient history class, we were talking about Hannibal's crossing of the Alps with a huge army and war elephants during the Second Punic War. My friend didn't understand why this was such a big deal and he asked the teacher, "wouldn't the Alps have been a lot smaller back then?" She asked what he meant, and his attempt to explain made it clear that he thought mountains were like plants, and that they start out as little hills, and then grow over time from being exposed to sunlight and rain. We've been roasting him over this for years. But now I guess in a way he wasn't entirely wrong.
Love the videos, might want to change lighting a bit or something his face was very shiny
@Valerie Pallaoro maybe it's my first time seeing him but I do watch sci show randomly. Used to watch a lot more when Hank Green was doing most of them
Isn't Stefan's face always shiny though? I didn't notice it more on this vid
Music for scientists? 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
The mass eroded by rivers and rain seems too small Compared to the whole mass of the mountain itself, that is the parts away from the river valleys. :(
Lu-Tze was right to use his watering can with his bonsi mountains!
You're just a cherub for writing this. Thanks ...
Rain makes mountains?... if that were true, don’t you think there would be mountains in Florida?
Scientists that thing rain makes mountains grow taller, what are you on?
If this result depends entirely on a computer model then there is a high chance that that model could be influenced by the programmer's own biases and assumptions - aka not 100% reliable
@Mischa Rowe Eh, no a computer model does nothing to remove bias, why would you even think that? Take the life on mars example; they detected a biomarker on Mars, couldn't think of an alternative hypothesis for its pressence and proclaimed "Because we can't think of any other possible explanation it **must** be life!" Here we have a computer model that even in scishow's video they TELL you "Tested to see if rain would match the results" aka not even considering alternative hypothesizes It sounds like you didn't even think about what they told you in the video
@Dr Gutowski Unaccounted variables, like what? You do realise that testing on a hypothesis isn't done to *confirm,* right? The whole point of the scientific process when testing one's idea is to try to debunk it. While nothing is perfect, this process is literally designed to remove bias. Sounds like you're arguing that science shouldn't be examined because *you* can't imagine how to remove bias from a test.
@Mischa Rowe Unaccounted for variables which could produce the same result Think of it like a form of confirmation bias, you design a model to test YOUR hypothesis, but what about alternative hypothesizes? Are you **sure** you accounted for them all? This is the same trap that led people to believe the "life on mars!" claim
How do you imagine bias affecting a model based on water eroding a mountainside?
But even through rivers, the material does not move from the mountain to the ocean floor overnight: Most of the material remain on the bed (If not the banks) of the river for thousands of years and even if it makes it to the mouth of the river and to the sea/ocean, most tectonic plates stretch out for kilometers into the sea, so if it drops there it is still on the same plate and contributing the same weight to that plate; not to mention that all that is only for rivers that make it to the sea (Taking the Canadian Rockies as an example: Only a few rivers on the western side of the rockies make it to the ocean, many fall inwards to lakes between the mountain and many others fall eastward toward the praries, so all that material indefinitly satys on the same tectonic plate!). The insignificant amount, even over the milleniums, can't make THAT much of a difference (Plus, given that it is widely accepted that much of what is now part of the western mountainous edge of Canada use to be a series of Islands on the Pacific plate, those land masses probably compasate for what was lost and creates a barrier for "river material" to reach the ocean; this would not apply everywhere, of course, but other processes elsewhere are probably often present). The overall picture of the presentation seems to be quite lacking in scope!
Water is a human right, Boycott Nestle & any water bottle brands! Water is as important as Air, it is not a commodity. Stand for something or fall for anything! Stand together with Water rights!
To tell you the power of water
I'd rather scientists spend money on something that actually matters this doesn't.
So... faith can move mountains, but fitness can make them taller?
I want a bonsai mountain
Thank you for the upload, it fits perfectly with middle school earth science unit.
oh please! how much money was squandered to find out that rain swollen rivers erode away more rock? next up: a million dollar grant for studying bee dancing.
I've tried that album Music for scientists. I've heard many science songs and this album is the worst. I had to play race for space to fix my mood.
Yeah; I was wondering ... scientists are a sub-set of humanity; and surely they have as many different needs from their music as the rest of us? Metal scientists, harp music scientists, medieval requiem scientists; heck Super Massive Black Hole by Muse is a go-to for science music. The album is a contrivance ...
Glad to see my boy Richard P. Feynman get a shout out.
Charge of flowing water. Electrostatic forces of rock breaking. Where is that? Like somewhere the scientists won't go. Electric earth
Crab Check: No. There were no crabs in this video.
Before watching the video I thought it would be rain depositing minerals on mountains faster than eroding them. But this is cool too.
His face is soooo shiny, that's gross, get a shower boy
Next, we'll be feeding our pet rocks!
Very interesting and worthwhile video.
For what it's worth, I'm loving the Moons of Jupiter song in that album. Haven't had a chance to listen to the others, but I'm super digging it.
Your skin is beautiful. 🤩
Why are there no Volcanoes in the Himalayan Mnts. ?
It's because of the way the tectonic plates move against each other. There is little subduction of one plate under the other which causes the plate to melt and form lava producing volcanoes. Instead they just crash into each other.
Someone get my mans a towel or something to dap all that oil
His face is so oily.
You deserve a ChinCoin for this one
Just going to ask this, isn’t there still water in the river beds. Water still has weight so I’m not really getting the lifting plates part. Not really answered besides just saying it. Seems like the story is really rain cause most erosion, more study needed to see if it grows mountains. 🤷🏼♂️
Hopefully
Nonsensical information
Random fact In Svalbard,a remote Norwegian island,it is illegal to die -Shazistic
And yet on rocky planets without water, mountains are much, much taller, astrogeophysicists speculating that water softens stone, limiting mountain height on wet worlds. A paradox.
You guys must of been stoned when you came up with this one.
Been thinking about this for a while: How does the weight of carbon in the atmosphere affect the earth as a whole?
@Valerie Pallaoro Although carbon is in a gaseous state, it was solid and in the the ground, mostly. The weight of the carbon in the air has to be adding pressure to the earth, I'm guessing, just as the weight of water adds atmospheres as you sink in the ocean. I am wondering if the weight of the carbon in the air is having an effect on the physical structure of the Earth.
What are you looking for? Carbon in the atmosphere is attached to oxygen molecules and is gaseous. So are you talking about the weight of the world to the Karman line or to the troposphere because three quarters of the atmosphere's mass is there and it's probably easiest to measure. And does this mean you think the weight of the world is measured to the edge of outer-space ... *sigh*
Obviously. The water turns to ice and adds a bit of height. D U H
I checked out the album and every song sucked - i want actual decent music for me to do science to
"come on every body knows mountains are just petrified tree stumps"
Tallest mountains in the solar system? Mars. Amount of rain on Mars. Zero. Hm.
@SlimThrull I've heard that recently, Mars was found to be actually *still* geoactive instead of being geologically dead, so... Probably!
@Theironsword Mmm good point. I wonder if it was still raining when Mars was still geoactive.
However, it most likely once rained on Mars, given the amount of hidden water.
Computer. Are there anymore Beryllium spheres on board?....
What have you got on your face? lol It's all shiny LOL
The new makeup, it burns my eyes!
Car shock absorbers can be placed inside the walls of a timber house, to absorb earthquake energy.
do rain make mountain grow? huge if true
"Rain makes mountains grow". The bible thumpers are gonna love this.
@Zutto Aragi "I don't have to try and prove a negative" Good thing you can't prove that quote, then - spares me the trouble of taking your reply seriously...
@Zutto Aragi "I don't have to try and prove a negative" Good thing you can't prove that quote, then - spares me the trouble of taking your reply seriously...
@Guy Montag Yeah, they acknowledge reality and science more than most people think. For example, it's a myth that Creationists don't believe in any kind of evolution. They fully accept micro-evolution, or adaptation and change within a species (like Darwin's famous finches). It's macro-evolution that they have an issue with, this being one species changing into a completely different one (apes into humans, dinosaurs into birds, that sort of thing).
@Zachariah Dearing I had no idea creationists even allowed such things as starlight to factor in. I assumed they just ignored all the inconvenient science. I don't honestly know if I think it's better or worse that they're actually acknowledging reality to some extent and yet still sticking with their creation myth. I'm leaning toward worse.
@Zutto Aragi Yeah, no. As someone who grew up homeschooled in a Creationist household, I can say that that is only partially true at best. Firstly, the Bible _does_ _not_ say that the mountains rose after the Flood. What it does say in Genesis, Chapter 7, is that the Flood covered the mountains to a depth of fifteen cubits (or a bit under seven meters). It also says, in the following chapter, that the "fountains of the deep" had opened. Now, do some Creationists claim that the mountains used to be shorter? Yes, but they attribute that to tectonic activity, just like everyone else. To be clear, I don't 100% agree with everything I was taught as a kid anymore. The Creationist answer to how starlight could be here if the Earth is less than 10,000 years old never made much sense to me, for example. But I also won't ignore obvious misunderstandings (or worse, lies) about that line of thinking.
SO I've heard that the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plane....
The rocks we live on in this city are springing back up, every few years we get a 5 earthquake as the area jumps up. A combination of an ancient mountain range and the ice age ice still having an effect.
@lurking_silhouette Ottawa Canada and the mountains are the Laurentians.
Canada?
Mountains are plants
But I thought a little fall of rain would make the flowers grow
I can't wait for a part two when the findings come out
Cow
Hello
I love you Stefan
Man, I really wish my elementary school self could shove this in the face of the science teacher that basically made fun of me for asking “what makes mountains grow so tall” (something along those lines, it’s been 15 years 😅)... because they obviously didn’t know the answer - just didn’t want to be bothered to try.
I had the same experience when I asked why we need to sleep. He responded "so, don't sleep and see what happens duh".
Seems like that teacher did not either know or appreciate what science is about. Science is searching for answers and applying methods of study or testing. But if you don't accept questions then you'd miss out on searching for the answers.
Shouldn't your teacher have at least known about plate tectonics? It's been in curriculum for decades.
Erosion is a rockhounds best friend. Circes up buckaroo.
@William Swedin I sure did.
Did you mean cirques? Because glacial erosion is pretty useful!
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Bring me the 20 people who disliked this in the first hour; I have questions for these individuals Thanks Scishow team :)
Creationists trolling for the devil's science videos? That's my guess, anyway.
@Valerie Pallaoro - I love the channel, I can still be allowed not to find everything perfect all the time... and I was just answering the question from the other guy about why some dislikes.
@Sebastien H You fell asleep because your attention span is not long enough; as with every scichow ep. there was information at every turn; none of it repeated, concisely put and eloquently said.
Topic and beginning of video are interesting but I fell asleep at 4:00 once everything was clear. Could have been shorter.
I recommended a professional broker to you guys sometime ago, can I get a person who invested with Her?.... Please comment
Is this some sort of a joke I'm too young to understand
hi bro i am from BARBADOS 🇧🇧
her WhatsApp number👆👆👆
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I think for people to talk all this good about her she must be an expert
that was the most interesting 5 minutes about rain eroding mountains. I look forward to your 90-minute TEDtalk on glaciers
When they are so dedicated to video making that they forget facewashes. On a not totally unrelated note: See how glossy his face is!
Speaking of rain, you need a bit more make up with those intense lights 😏 Love the video anyway though
Wtf
You need Jesus
My mans starting to sound like the white dude
I thought he was going to discuss how hydration of minerals in mountains would increase their size. I’m not sure if that is something that happens, since I don’t know much about those kinds of processes, but it seemed like a good hypothesis to me.
@ckl That would change things as well. As would any form of carbonate formation which requires rain to pull CO2 from the atmosphere.
On a similar note, what about mountains that contain large quantities of un-oxidised, or partially oxidised, minerals that upon exposure to air or water react and add that mass to the mountain? I remember hearing (but not from where) that one of the first CO2 droughts in prehistory was because of the Himalayas emerging from the crust. Apparently they contained lots of CaO that had never seen air before and promptly absorbed the CO2 to make large quantities of CaCO3. It's been a long time since my last chemistry refresher, but CaCO3 would be significantly heavier than CaO.
@Valerie Pallaoro valid. I was only thinking of actual expansion of the volume wise, but if we are talking porosity... A porous mountain that is full of water (an aquifer) is much heavier than one that has had the aquifer drained. So yeah, porous without water weighs less than with water.
@Pes Sien nice 'joke' ... you gotta point there.
(along with all the other good points) it would also depend on your mountain. Some sedimentary rocks absorb more water than others, some stay held together and others are washed away. I think though; at the highest point, a mountain is of less absorptive rock; the most absorption of water would take place lower down.
I'm having a hard time understanding the dating technique described here. Does more beryllium 10 mean faster erosion or slower?
they said beryllium 10 doesn't form much below the surface, and the researchers took samples of eroded rock to make the measurements. after the rocks are "eroded out", new rock is exposed in the mountain, and the rock pieces are left to accumulate that beryllium variety, so the more they have the longer they've been left out (if there's new rock eroded it'll have less of the beryllium 10, because it sat there for less time). does that make sense?
Oh how i miss you on tangents good sir :)
@Shirin Rose Okay. I don't know anything about the podcasts, so thanks.
@Mischa Rowe The podcast SciShow Tangents. Stefan was one of the hosts up until the start of this year, and we miss him.
??
So rain is a pencil sharpener and mountains are getting pointier and pointier.
Mountains: High in Protein and Calcium.
I'm out here watering my plants while god watering mountains.
Yay! I vote for more geology on sci show!
This comment needs more thumbs ups
Idk about this. Seems pretty wrong lol
Is he being held at gun point or something? He looks all nervous and sweaty.
@Chekhov’s Gunman You know me so well
You look nervous and sweaty
Mmm. The biggest stalagmites
Can confirm, I forgot to water my mountain over the holidays, and it died :(
do you call them your twin peaks?
If you buy another one maybe they won't notice...
Beautiful reply
When you feel you understand things, science comes along and slaps you in the face with a wet fish with new knowledge... :P
Isn't that just the best!
Since you mentioned wet fish I feel compelled to share this. alfirst.info/load/hWJ4dGqxorWWfIk/video If you're not a gamer feel free to ignore that
@Sic Show Sod off...
Please do an episode on weather modification, it's fascinating. So much info available now. They even declassified operation popeye when they were controlling a monsoon in the Vietnam war. The stuff they can do today is amazing. Now that's science and cool
Also, some mountains collect water runoff in karst deposits, which act like a giant sponge.
Seems like mountains would get taller more on dimensional
Does have a bearing on how much is eroded away though; they can rise due to isostatic rebound and plate tectonic collision, but if they are being eroded at the same rate as they rise then it's a steady state, if they are eroded more than they rise, they get smaller
We've proved that rain erodes the mountain, making it lighter so it gets a bit taller... What do we do with this information?
Yes particularly as he does not define to what reference level is the height of the mountain measured...
Factor it into earthquake-predicting models, maybe?
@Wemple Same thing with gorillas and billi apes. They were considered cryptids for years, in the billi apes case over 100 years of people not believing locals and their experiences until 2003 when a specimen was found. That being said, I saw ape-like creatures in san diego about 3 years ago. I am absolutely sure that we have a local ape that people haven't researched.
Y’all were saying the same stuff with quantum mechanics and yet it’s the reason we have lasers, and certain cancer treatments, and more effective computer processors, and so on and so forth.
I'm sure people asked the same question to those playing with magnets and electricity.
If the purpose of life is to reproduce why does reproduction get hard as life advances compare the strain of mammal pregnancy to sponges that be cut up. Claim just spray in the water. And where's the selection there . I under how . but why? Unless there more to life being alive. Viruses do nothing but reproduce. When think of being alive. Its processing energy being animates scientifically much closer to metabolism.
Not everyone has to have kids
the purpose of life isn't to reproduce. its to increase entropy.
The more you know..
it seems the complexly bit was directed at me based on a comment i made on a previous video. cool to see someone paid enough attention to it to foment the complexly suggestion.
It's amazing what science discovers about our planet. Thank you for the daily dose of wonder!