The original Arkansas Traveler.Anyone still disappointed about the outcome of the U.S. Civil War The U.S. Civil War, also called the War between the States, was waged from April 1861 until April 1865. The war was precipitated by the secession of eleven Southern states during 1860 and 1861 and their formation of the Confederate States of America under President Jefferson Davis. may welcome news of an earlier, more successful secession. A continental fragment of the southern United States The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive region in the southeastern and south-central United States. apparently broke loose and roamed the seas nearly 500 million years ago. The rebellious strip eventually found a home in the Argentine Precordillera, a region in what is now central South America South America, fourth largest continent (1991 est. pop. 299,150,000), c.6,880,000 sq mi (17,819,000 sq km), the southern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. . Two geologists, recognizing similarities between rocks and fossils from Argentina and from Texas and Arkansas, identified the origin of this well-traveled region, which is 200,000 square kilometers. "We know where it came from and where it ended up," says William A. Thomas of the University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky, also referred to as UK, is a public, co-educational university located in Lexington, Kentucky. in Lexington. "That's the unique aspect." Thomas and his colleague Ricardo A. Astini of the University of Cordoba cor·do·ba n. See Table at currency. [American Spanish córdoba, after Francisco Fernández de Córdoba (1475?-1526?), Spanish explorer.] Noun 1. in Argentina report their discovery in the Aug. 9 Science. In particular, limestone deposits in Texas and Arkansas match those found in Argentina. Moreover, the exotic South American landmass land·mass n. A large unbroken area of land. landmass Noun a large continuous area of land landmass contains fossils of organisms that inhabited part of ancestral North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. , a continent known as Laurentia, more than 500 million years ago. The researchers also found younger fossils typical of the ancestral South American continent, Gondwana. These led them to surmise that the breakaway strip wandered the oceans for 70 million years before settling into its new neighborhood. The Argentine Precordillera broke off from Laurentia when an oceanic ridge to the east of the strip shifted westward, the researchers report. Caught on the new ridge's slope, the minicontinent slid into and across the now- extinct Iapetus Ocean. After attaching to South America, the strip was compressed when the Andes Mountains emerged to its east. Thomas and Astini's explanation is largely acceptable to geologists, says Warren Huff of the University of Cincinnati's geology department. "The fossil evidence argues for it." The length of the voyage, however, is still open to debate. Earthquakes from the cracks left by the rift, reminders of the ancient rebellion, still trouble the Midwest. |
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