Researchers Say Earth’s Crust In New Mexico Is Stretching

Researchers say the Earth’s crust in New Mexico is stretching at a rate of an inch of east-west growth every 40 years.

The Albuquerque Journal reported that scientists have long suspected this was happening because of the way the Rio Grande Rift splits the state down the middle.

The rift, a tear in the Earth’s crust, defines the state’s central mountain chain and the valley the Rio Grande now follows.

Colorado geophysicist Henry Berglund, the lead author of a paper outlining these findings in a recent issue of the journal Geology, says until scientists began collecting data from their monitoring network back in 2006, they had no idea how widespread the stretching was.