The Andean Uplift and the Apurímac River – Part II

Continuing from the previous post regarding the Andean Uplift and the Apurímac River and how they relate to the Land of Promise in the scriptural record.

Co-author with Dr. Sev Kender (previous post) was Kara Bogus (left) of Texas A&M University’s International Ocean Discovery Program, who served as the expedition project manager, adds: “This discovery is significant because one of the biggest questions remaining in plate tectonics is how subduction zones initiate. It’s half the story in plate tectonics. We understand well the other half (how the plates move apart from each other and create new crust), but we are just beginning to understand this half. Overall, our results mean that we need to modify our subduction inception models.”

This is because the initiation of tectonic plate subduction into the mantle is poorly understood. If subduction is induced by the push of a distant mid-ocean ridge or subducted slab pull, we expect compression and uplift of the overriding plate. In contrast, spontaneous subduction initiation, driven by subsidence of dense lithosphere along faults adjacent to buoyant lithosphere, would result in extension and magmatism. The rock record of subduction initiation is typically obscured by younger deposits, so evaluating these possibilities has proved elusive. In analyzing the geochemical characteristics of igneous basement rocks and overlying sediments, the uppermost basement rocks are very widespread and are supplied via dykes. They are similar in composition and age—as constrained by the biostratigraphy of the overlying sediments—to the geochemical characteristics of the basement lavas, which indicate that a component of subducted lithosphere was involved in their genesis, and the lavas were derived from mantle source rocks that were more melt-depleted than those tapped at mid-ocean ridges. It is proposed that the basement lavas formed during the inception of subduction in a mode consistent with the spontaneous initiation of subduction (Richard J. Arculus, et al., “A record of spontaneous subduction initiation,” Nature Geoscience, vol.8, 2015,pp728-733)

According to Eric Debayle (left), French National Centre for Scientific Research, “Continental stability may be linked to a shallow, buoyant mantle layer, and the deepest craton roots can be destabilized and removed by mantle plumes.” In fact, the great antiquity of craton keels implies that the deep roots of the continents are stable and have largely been preserved from the erosive influence of mantle convection since their formation. However, the recent report shows that the deepest cratonic lithosphere can be removed when perturbed by mantle upwellings, challenging the classical view of stable cratonic roots.

A Craton is an old and stable part of the continental lithosphere, which consists of Earth's two topmost layers, the crust and the uppermost mantle. Having often survived cycles of merging and rifting of continents, cratons are generally found in the interiors of techtonic plates. This suggests that the long-term stability of cratons is due to the shallower buoyant lithosphere (Eric Debayle, “When Plume Tickle Continents,” News & Views, Nature Geoscience,” Vol.11, Macmillan Publishers, London, February 2018, pp150-154).

What this means, in brief, is that during the period of the crucifixion, the destruction resulting from the incident triggered by the cataclysmic episode caused the lower levels of the earth around what is now western and coastal South America, due to these craton roots either being removed or modified by mantle plumes, creating a buoyant and shallow cratonic lithosphere (Jiashun Hu, et al., Modification of the Western Gondwana Craton by Plume,” Nature Geoscience, U.K., Vol.11, 2018, pp203-210).

Mountains rose in the course of 3 hours “to a height which is great” (Halaman 14:23). For comparison the houses and llama herd is in the foreground

Thus, the South American continent rose higher from this fast-moving subduction, that forced mountains to rise out of level ground, previously just beneath the surface, into ranges “whose height is great,” as Samuel the Lamanite described the event.

In a period of only three hours, God slammed tectonic plates into one another beneath this area, forcing the Andean Uplift or orogeny that rose sharp, angled breaks upward into 45 lofty heights of 20,000 feet to 22,000 feet peaks in Peru alone, and 251 over 18,000 feet in height along the entire Andes range.

Indeed, the Lord put it in Samuel’s heart to describe this event as: “And behold, there shall be great tempests, and there shall be many mountains laid low, like unto a valley, and there shall be many places which are now called valleys which shall become mountains, whose height is great” (Helaman 14:23, emphasis added).

Now consider that there were already mountains of some degree in the Land of Promise before this time, for Samuel said, “there shall be mountains laid low, like unto a valley,” and Nephi said of his vision: “and I saw mountains tumbling into pieces; and I saw the plains of the earth, that they were broken up” (1 Nephi 12:4); consequently, we can understand that the Land of Promise was made up of valleys and mountains prior to the crucifixion. 

The largest river and water source begins with a trickle, usually in a small creek somewhere in the heights of a mountain

 

Mountains, of course, from snow melt and mountain lakes cause rivers to flow, and as we understand before the crucifixion there was at least one river, the Sidon, in the Land of Promise. In fact, in Alma alone, “River Sidon” was mentioned 28 times, “Waters of Sidon” was mentioned 7 times, and “Head of Sidon” mentioned once, or 36 references to the Sidon were given.

Thus, we can also suggest that the mountain arrangement that existed before the crucifixion, covering about 630 years of Nephite existence, caused a certain path or course for the River Sidon, which flowed or ran by the land of Zarahemla (Alma 2:15), in the Valley of Gideon east of the river Sidon (Alma 2:26-27), where the City of Gideon was loated, which was east of the river Sidon (Alma 6:7). In addition, the Hill Amnihu was also east of the river Sidon (Alma 2:15,17), and on the west of the River Sidon was a west valley (Alma 43:32). This is all important, so we understand that the River Sidon did not run past the city Zarahemla itself, as most theorists claim, but in the borders of the land some distance to the east “in the borders of the land.”

In addition, we find that according to Mormon’s description, as we have repeatedly covered in past articles, the head of the River Sidon was located “in the narrow strip of wilderness” (Alma 22:27) between the Land of Nephi to the south and the Land of Zarahemla to the north. However, for those who are still not convinced, consider the meaning in this scripture:

“And it came to pass that the [Lamanite] king sent a proclamation throughout all the land [Land of Nephi], amongst all his people who were in all his land [Land of Nephi], who were in all the regions round about, which was bordering even to the sea, on the east and on the west, and which [Land of Nephi] was divided from the land of Zarahemla by “a narrow strip of wilderness”—an area today referred to as the Chicón Mountain in the Cordillera Urubamba Range, an 18,000-foot high series of mountains—which ran from the sea east even to the sea west, and round about [i.e., curved] on the borders of the seashore, and the borders of the wilderness which [narrow strip of wilderness] was on the north [within the narrow strip of wilderness] by the land of Zarahemla, through the borders of Manti [in this narrow strip of wilderness], by the head of the river Sidon [in this narrow strip of wilderness], running from the east [East Sea] towards the west [West Sea] -- and thus were the Lamanites and the Nephites divided [by this narrow strip of wilderness].

The Narrow Strip of Wilderness, in part, is in the Urubamba Mountain Range

 

Consequently, this narrow strip of wilderness, evidently a mountainous range running from sea to sea, separated the Land of Nephi from the Land of Zarahemla, with the wilderness (that is, unoccupied land with no permanent buildings, structures and agriculture) turned northward along the east shore and the west shore, and in those wilderness areas along the shore were the more part of the idle Lamanites encamped in tents.

Now in this range, which held the headwater of the River Sidon, at least up until the crucifixion, of which Samuel the Lamanite prophesied, the mountains would be laid low into valleys, while other mountains in other valleys would rise to great heights. This would have changed the headwater of the Sidon, perhaps pushing it further south to where higher, snow-capped mountains began draining their snowmelt into what became a river, or series of rivers, that gained momentum as they flowed downward from many thousands of feet in height to lower levels.

This could have (speculatively) resulted in what we now see as the Apurímac River, that flows northward from the Nevado Mismi mountain height in the Chila Mountain Range along a winding course all the way to the Amazonian Basin, which is barely above sea level even now, and into the Amazon River in its 4,000-mile flow to the Atlantic.

While this is speculative about the Sidon, the science surrounding the idea is all factual, and could be the answer to the present location of the Sidon River. Only time, and more geologic studies and knowledge, will tell.