Astonishing revelation! The Earth is not round and it is being shaped on daily basis

If you’ve been living on this planet for some years, then you must have seen various images of Earth on websites, textbooks, TV shows, movies and more. Every snapshot of the planet shows that it is a rounded sphere (contrary to flat-Earthers who believe it is indeed flat). But if you thought that the Earth was round, think again! Recent research has revealed that the Earth is in fact, an Ellipsoid, which is a somewhat deformed sphere in layman’s terms, and our planet’s gravity may have had a key role in shaping Earth, which it is still doing, till date!

Research published in the Nature Communications journal has revealed that Earth is still being moulded every day due to the inner gravitational forces. According to the research, gravitational body forces generated by topography and crustal root of the planet cause an upward flow pattern of the ductile lower-middle crust, which detaches the top surface of the planet and shapes it into a low-angle fault.

The gravitational forces buried deep under the Earth cause movement along the tectonic faults, which is also responsible for triggering Earthquakes. These forces mould the planet by collapsing the mountain ranges and exposing the rocks present underneath, some of them as deeply buried as 30 kilometers!

The study was conducted by taking detailed field observations and studying the geophysical data at the Basin and Range Province (BRP) of southwestern North America. The study revealed that Metamorphic Core Complexes (MCC) were observed in regions where the crust thickened temporarily before the extensional collapse.

Not only gravity, but other factors may have also played a key role in the shape of Earth. Uneven topography of the planet, coupled with the vast and varied natural resource distribution across lands may have also had an effect behind the Ellipsoid shape of Earth.