- Ancient underground rocks could significantly intensify damage from solar storms in eastern America
- Hidden crust beneath the United States redirects dangerous electrical currents upward
- Scientists have mapped a buried geological structure stretching from Maine to Georgia
Buried deep beneath the eastern United States is a huge chunk of ancient crust that has remained hidden from scientists for millions of years, but it’s not harmless.
This lost underground, known as the Piedmont Resistance, extends from Maine to Georgia.
It is approximately 200 kilometers thick and was formed during the violent breakup of the supercontinent Pangea during the Jurassic period approximately 200 million years ago.
Listen to the electric whispers of the Earth
The National Science Foundation has funded a Magnetotelluric Network, a network of 1,800 temporary stations placed across the United States to study this paleo-basement.
These stations measured the ability of deep rocks to conduct electricity by detecting currents induced by changing magnetic fields in the upper atmosphere.
Paul Bedrosian, a geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey, said the final map of the network reveals hidden structures that seismic studies could not detect.
The Piedmont resistor gets its name because it blocks and redirects electrical currents rather than allowing them to pass through, as most surrounding rocks do.
The igneous rocks of this deep basement, which are now buried by silt from eroding mountains, are probably associated with the volcanic eruptions that took place when Pangea split into Laurasia and Gondwanaland.
The risk this lost continent poses to power grids and data centers
When a solar storm disrupts the Earth’s magnetosphere, it induces powerful electrical currents deep within the planet’s crust.
Most rocks allow these currents to spread and dissipate harmlessly over large areas without causing damage.
Piedmont strength does not behave like most rocks; this forces these currents to move upward and concentrate in shallower rock layers, much closer to human infrastructure.
Anna Kelbert, a geophysicist at the Center for Astrophysics, says this geology can make the risks of solar storms 1,000 times worse in regions with this type of subsurface.
The concentration of electrical currents puts transformers and other equipment on the grid at a much higher risk of catastrophic failure.
A severe solar storm could knock out power to large parts of the eastern United States for days or even weeks.
Modern data centers rely entirely on stable electricity to run their servers around the clock.
Widespread damage to transformers would also disable backup generators, as fuel supply chains rely on the same vulnerable power grid.
Federal hazard maps have been updated to reflect these geologic hazards, but most utility companies are not using the new data.
Kelbert warned that utilities are falling behind and that no government agency is currently forcing them to update their infrastructure plans.
Much like the sun, Piedmont’s resistance is going nowhere, and the only question is whether power companies will prepare before the next big solar storm arrives.
Via science
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