Important Notice: Our web hosting provider recently started charging us for additional visits, which was unexpected. In response, we're seeking donations. Depending on the situation, we may explore different monetization options for our Community and Expert Contributors. It's crucial to provide more returns for their expertise and offer more Expert Validated Answers or AI Validated Answers. Learn more about our hosting issue here.

Why Not Dispose of Waste in Ocean Trenches?

0
Posted

Why Not Dispose of Waste in Ocean Trenches?

0

Why Not Dispose of Waste in Ocean Trenches?This is a perennial suggestion: let’s put our most pernicious wastes into the deepest sea, where they will be drawn down into the Earth’s mantle well away from children and other living things. Usually people are thinking of high-level nuclear waste, which is considered dangerous for thousands of years. (That’s why the design for the proposed waste facility at Yucca Mountain, in Nevada, is so incredibly stringent.)Answer: Deep-sea trenches are where one plate dives beneath another (the process of subduction) to be swallowed up by the Earth’s hot mantle. The descending plates go down hundreds of kilometers, where they are not the least bit of a threat. It isn’t completely clear whether they disappear by being thoroughly mixed with mantle rocks—maybe they persist there and are recycled through the plate-tectonic mill, but that wouldn’t happen

Thanksgiving questions

*Sadly, we had to bring back ads too. Hopefully more targeted.