The Earth's hidden drip redirected a river through a mountain range
Geologists have resolved a 150-year mystery: the Green River carved the Canyon of Lodore by exploiting a temporary dip in the Uintas caused by a lithospheric drip, a dense crustal slab sinking into the mantle and then rebounding. Seismic tomography shows a large beneath-the-surface anomaly beneath the Uintas that detached 2–5 million years ago, aligning with uplift inferred from surrounding rivers and the timing of the Green River’s crossing. This deep-Earth process redirected the river from the eastern plains toward the Colorado and reshaped North American drainage and ecosystems, illustrating how deep crustal dynamics can alter surface landscapes.