Author: Steingrimur Thorbjarnarson

Looking at waterfalls is wonderful. We can also try to get some insight into the real background of these special sites, visited by so many people.

The Niagara Falls begin with a gentle slope in Niagara River. It follows the calculations:

This is achieved by direct calculation, which means that the upper most part of Niagara is aligned i the same way as the convection rolls of the mantle underneath.

The tectonics of the waterfall itself can also be calculated:

There is a reason for this proportion, namely balance between convection cell alignment and the tectonic EW-axis in the area.

The EW-axis even appears quite clearly:

Agree? OK then 🙂

The difference between the angles of tectonic lines becomes 19°, that is 1/4 of the angle of convection rolls compared with the EW-axis.

It is a coincidence that the tectonics of the Golden Waterfall in Iceland are also calculated in this way.

Complicated? Geology, geophysics, tectonics… these are quite difficult subjects. What I am showing here is almost embarrassingly simple in comparison to many things found in basic textbooks of those subjects. This is new, and the work leading to these calculations was complicated, but not using the method once it is here is very easy.

Dynjandi, a mighty waterfall, is located in the Western Fjords area of Iceland, far away from the volcanic zones. Still the orientation of the waterfall can be calculated in the same way as the volcanic zones:

It is located on 65.7°N, about the same latitude as Dettifoss. So those two waterfalls are aligned the same way!

Just have a look:

So is there a basic reason for this?

Mount Fuji is located on a triple junction between three plates. It should explain it all, besides the vicinity to the Pacific Plate descending into the mantle. But compared to the convection cell model, the position is unique. Fuji is located directly on one of the division lines of the lower mantle as shown here:

Now we zoom in on Japan to show more details. It is interesting that the convection cells are aligned directly NS at 32°N, and Japan is just north of that parallel, so here is an example of how it works:

This line is a counterpart of the main division line under Iceland:

As has been pointed out in other posts, this line represents both the main convection division at 410 km depth, and the upper most division line of small cells at 120 km depth. The smaller cells are down-welling, and the two lines to each side of course up-welling.

Therefore, in Iceland, The Reykjanes Ridge is found west of this line, whereas Hekla is east of it. Still, many volcanic and geothermal sites are also on the main division line, with the controversy of having up-welling deep below, but down-welling in the upper layer.

This is of course in a way complicated, but it is easy to see what Japan and Iceland have in common according to this model of the convection rolls within Earth’s mantle.