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first published week of: 04/24/2017
Although it tracks where we walk, GPS's greatest benefit could be what it sees under our feet.
Iceland is breaking apart.
While the country's 333,000 people, millions of puffins, and influx of tourists live in harmony, the rock underneath them is slowly separating. That's because this Nordic island nation is being cut in half by a serpentine oceanic ridge, called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, as it snakes its way through the Atlantic Ocean and cuts up the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates.
This slow divorce is hidden in plain sight, seen in scars that dot the country. But the most striking example lies at the edge of the Reykjanes peninsula where a footbridge visually displays this growing fissure between the two continental plates—at a small but noticeable 2.5 centimeters (about an inch) a year.
How do we know it's moving at this crushingly slow speed? The same technology you use to navigate while driving. Read full story at popularmechanics.com/science/…