Editing 1449: Red Rover

{{comic
| number    = 1449
| date      = November 19, 2014
| title     = Red Rover
| image     = red_rover.png
| titletext = 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 {{w|Pangaea}} were hypothesized to have looked like when it had "just" broken up in the late {{w|Triassic}} Period (roughly 200 million years ago). "Shortly" after the separation of Pangaea the two {{w|Supercontinent|supercontinents}} {{w|Laurasia}} (northern supercontinent) and {{w|Gondwana}} (southern supercontinent) formed. After this, {{w|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 {{w|Red Rover}}. In the second map we can see how Gondwana actually sends over the {{w|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 {{w|Asia}}.

It is accepted that the {{w|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 {{w|Slide Mountain Ocean}}, which was located between the {{w|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 "{{w|landslide}}" which is a common feature of mountains. [http://travelingluck.com/North+America/Canada/British+Columbia/_6149492_Slide+Mountain.html Slide Mountain] is a particular mountain in {{w|British Columbia}}, the result of the remnant of the Slide Mountain {{w|List of tectonic plates#Tertiary plates|microplate}} which {{w|Accretion (geology)|accreted}} onto the continent, becoming the {{w|Slide Mountain Terrane}}, as the majority of the microplate was {{w|Subduction|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 (roughly -165 Ma) 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 (roughly -130 Ma, but with India at -60) show the land mass that would become India moving, with motion lines, toward Laurasia.]
:[Below the maps:]
:How the Himalayas formed

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Maps]]
[[Category:Geography]]
[[Category:Geology]]