1449: Red Rover
| Red Rover |
 Title text: I just learned about the Slide Mountain Ocean, which I like because it's three nouns that sound like they can't possibly all refer to the same thing. |
Explanation
This comic shows what the landmasses of Pangaea were hypothesized to have looked like when it had "just" broken up in the late Triassic Period (roughly 200 million years ago). "Shortly" after the separation of Pangaea the two supercontinents Laurasia (northern supercontinent) and Gondwana (southern supercontinent) formed. After this, continental drift, the process by which landmasses moving over the Earth's mantle collide and separate, brought them into the configuration we see today.
The top map shows the landmass Laurasia declaring, "Red rover, red rover, send India over!" as if the continents were playing the game Red Rover. In the second map we can see how Gondwana actually sends over the Indian subcontinent to Laurasia.
In the game of Red Rover, the aim is for an individual to charge into the opposing team who are holding hands, and attempt to cause a break in the human chain. If the individual succeeds, they take one of the opposing teams members back to their own team. If the chain doesn't break, the individual joins that team.
In the game portrayed here, an isolated landmass (India in contemporary geography), is the individual charging towards the Laurasian landmass, attempting to break through. We know of course that India failed in this attempt, and as per the games rules joined the Laurasia 'team'. This part of the supercontinent later developed in to Asia.
It is accepted that the Himalayas, the highest elevated mountain range on earth, formed by the collision of India into what is now Asia. For various reasons, the movement of the Indian plate from its location in Gondwana 90 million years ago to its impact point with the rest of Asia 50 million years ago was extremely rapid (as plate movements go) at about 20 cm per year.
The idea that the landmasses on Earth are sentient and moving about in an incredibly slow game of Red Rover, with India's rapid movement being a result of being "called over", is not one which is currently scientifically accepted[citation needed].
The title text refers to the Slide Mountain Ocean, which was located between the Intermontane Islands and North America in the Triassic period beginning around 245 million years ago. The name interests Randall because oceans (bodies of water), mountains (land masses), and slides (playground equipment) are mutually exclusive concepts when using the most common definitions. In this case, however, "slide" is short for "landslide" which is a common feature of mountains. Slide Mountain is a particular mountain in British Columbia, the result of the remnant of the Slide Mountain microplate which accreted onto the continent, becoming the Slide Mountain Terrane, as the majority of the microplate was subducted. "Slide Mountain Ocean" refers to the sea between the Slide Mountain microplate before it was subducted under what is now North America.
Transcript
- [Two maps of Earth at different points in continental formation, one above the other.]
- [In the top map the two largest continents are labeled:]
- Laurasia
- Gondwana
- [A speech bubble is shown next to Laurasia.]
- Laurasia: Red Rover, Red Rover, send India over!
- [The bottom map show the land mass that would become India moving, with motion lines, toward Laurasia.]
- [Below the maps:]
- How the Himalayas formed
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I don't know the exact rules or premise of "Red Rover", nor do I know the date of the Orogeny depicted here. -- Lacedemonian (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
Red Rover is children's game that is common in the US. http://www.wikihow.com/Play-Red-Rover
199.27.128.241 22:22, 19 November 2014 (UTC)
Slide and mountain are highly relatable to many hikers, mountaineers and rock climbers in the Adirondacks and New Hampshire White Mountains. A slide is a rock feature common where a landslide occurs, leaving a bare strip of rock. Infamous slides occurred on mountains called Big Slide, Mount Colden, Gothics and Basin Mountain in the Adirondacks. The same happens elsewhere, such as in Colorado for instance, but I'm not sure if the feature has the same regional nickname.
"Slide" is short for "landslide." There must be many mountains in the English-speaking world with the name "Slide Mountain" since landslides are a common occurrence in mountainous areas.Taibhse (talk) 04:01, 20 November 2014 (UTC)
"Slide Mountain Ocean" refers to the sea between the Slide Mountain microplate before it was subducted under what is now North America. Slide Mountain is a particular mountain somewhere in British Columbia, the result of the remnant of the Slide Mountain microplate which accreted onto the continent, becoming the Slide Mountain terrane, as the majority of the microplate was subducted. The west coast of Canada and Alaska has quite a complicated history of microplate subduction and accretion. My favorite is the "Insular Islands" microplate since the name is humorously redundant. Taibhse (talk) 04:01, 20 November 2014 (UTC)
In New York alone, I am aware of at least 3 Slide Mountains;one is a High Peak in the Catskill Region, one is a peak of some prominance north of the Siamese Ponds Wilderness near 13th lake, and the other is south of Lake Placid. I would not be surprised if there were many more, in NY let alone. Big Slide, one of the Adirondack High Peaks, is named for its slide as well (the rumbling is said to have been heard for hundreds of miles when it occurred in 1839, IIRC). 173.245.54.211 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
Sliding is also another term for glissading (a common term among mountaineers and hikers), or a controlled slide descent in snown or on ice by sliding on your feet, belly or butt, often with an ice axe.
However, these terms would not be obviously relatable to most people. 173.245.54.211 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
Am I the only one wondering which projection he used? http://xkcd.com/977/ 199.27.130.192 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
- Names made of nouns
Nice to know I'm not the only one who finds it funny when names are made up of all nouns. SeaTac airport has a restaurant called "Mountain Room Bar" that was one of the first things that got me thinking about the concept. 199.27.133.127 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
Well, there is "Seattle Tacoma air port" made up of two proper nouns and two common nouns. A noun modifying another noun is very common in Indo-European languages. Sometimes the modifier is identified with a grammatical case, usually genitive; or mediated via a preposition. In modern languages it's often merely juxtaposition, as in "showroom floor" or "Rechtsschutzversicherungsgesellschaften" or "Slide Mountain," or hyphenated as in "wagon-lit." Taibhse (talk) 04:32, 20 November 2014 (UTC)
What is the island to the left of Laurasia? 108.162.215.129 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
- Baja California? 108.162.216.81 22:46, 20 November 2014 (UTC)
- "Baja? We haven't got ... Baja!" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066995/quotes?item=qt0340864 141.101.98.247 17:22, 21 November 2014 (UTC)
