this post was submitted on 19 Apr 2025
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xkcd

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The biggest expense was installing the mantle ducts to keep the carbonate-silicate cycle operating.

https://explainxkcd.com/3078/

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[–] Peppycito@sh.itjust.works 26 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Who's going inside to hold the bolt? Should have used a T-nut.

[–] SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

Just ask the mole people.

[–] redsand@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 month ago

Someone make use of AI and show us some coastal scenery.

Maybe with a nuclear rocket drill to fasten it.

[–] AceBonobo@lemmy.world 15 points 1 month ago (2 children)

There's no way that's going to hold, right?

[–] hemko@lemmy.dbzer0.com 45 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

If that picture is to scale, those bolts are ~5km thick. Put enough of them and it should hold.

That said, the crust probably starts crumbling somewhere else creating new mountains or islands

[–] death_to_carrots@feddit.org 25 points 1 month ago (1 children)

After a certain point, the material around the bolt is more brittle than the bolt itself.

[–] hemko@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Often is, but you can alleviate this with large washers like in the picture, and also by adding more bolts closer to eachothers

[–] usualsuspect191@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I think double-sided tape would be better. Or maybe we sew the plates together?

[–] hemko@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Drill holes and zip tie the tectonic plates together

[–] usualsuspect191@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 month ago

Tectonic drift stitches. We'd have so much street cred in the galactic neighbourhood

[–] death_to_carrots@feddit.org 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Would you say tectonic plates are more like wood or metal? There are different standards for both.

[–] hemko@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 1 month ago

I'd think they're more like cookies, but idk I'm not really a geologist 😅

[–] anomnom@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 month ago

Too many bolts too close and you’ve just got a perforation.

[–] modeler@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

the crust ... starts crumbling somewhere else creating new mountains or islands

Exactly. The oceanic crust will (in geologic time) crack in front of the bolts and be dragged down parallel to the bit that was bolted, stacking the oceanic crust with the newer bit under the older one.

The cracking and stacking happens naturally and this creates stacks of many oceanic crust sections moving to the left of the picture.

[–] OrganicMustard@lemmy.world 28 points 1 month ago (1 children)

At geological timescales everything is a liquid

[–] delgato@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

I took an atmospheric science class in college and the professor described the field as “fast geology”, I like your description though that geology is the study of slow fluids!

[–] Opinionhaver@feddit.uk 8 points 1 month ago

Something like a Tapcon would seem more suitable for the job

[–] MNByChoice@midwest.social 7 points 1 month ago

Problem. Plates are still moving apart. Earth is increasing in volume, but no mass.

Floats away

[–] Brekky@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Does anti-subduction = abduction?

[–] PainInTheAES@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

No domduction

[–] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Someone else remembers that episode of the Ghostbusters cartoon.