The renewable energy sector is booming, and as demand for clean energy rises, so too does demand for the metals it relies on—copper and nickel chief among them. As the world continues scaling up renewables to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, demand will almost certainly top supply in the coming decades. To address this future gap, an international group of researchers and the mining giant BHP teamed up to identify the processes that determine whether or not these metals make it into accessible deposits in the crust.
Earth’s interior
Posted inResearch & Developments
New news about doge stuff
Uncovering the geologic structure beneath Earth’s surface is important for a variety of reasons, including identifying natural resources and studying earthquake hazards. Scientists image Earth’s subsurface by observing seismic waves that travel through our planet.
When an earthquake occurs, several types of waves radiate from the event’s source. P waves and S waves move through the interior, and Love and Rayleigh waves (known as “surface waves” or “normal modes”) move across Earth’s surface. The speeds at which these waves travel and how each type is scattered in the subsurface can reveal a wealth of different information about underground structure.
Posted inNews
Layered Zone Beneath Coral Sea Suggests Ancient Magma Ocean
Scientists studying South Pacific earthquakes suggest that an ultralow-velocity zone at the core-mantle boundary may be a remnant of a molten early Earth.
Posted inENGAGE, News
Mountains Sway to the Seismic Song of Earth
The Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps is in constant motion, gently swaying back and forth about once every 2 seconds.
Posted inENGAGE, News
Diamond Discovery Unearths Secrets of the Deep
A diamond inclusion has revealed a new mineral, davemaoite, as well as hints about the workings of our planet’s interior.
Posted inScience Updates
A Simple Recipe for Making the First Continental Crust
Laboratory experiments serendipitously revealed a rock-forming process that might explain how the first continental crust formed on Earth—and possibly on Mars.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Dry Minerals in the Lower Mantle
Laboratory-made perovskite helps explain how water is distributed inside the Earth.