Researchers peering into Earth’s interior found two continent-sized structures that upend our picture of the mantle. What could their existence mean for us back on Earth’s surface?
Earth's interior
Posted inAGU News
Collaboration Reveals What’s Beneath the Surface
How do scientists look underground? Answering questions about Earth’s interior requires an attack from many angles.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Regional Metamorphism Occurs Before Continents Collide
Evidence from collision zones suggests that the high temperatures that create regional zones of metamorphic minerals occur in wide, hot back arcs prior to continental collision deformation.
Posted inScience Updates
Understanding Electrical Signals from Below Earth’s Surface
A new version of a free Web application (SIGMELTS 2.0) helps Earth scientists interpret electrical anomalies in Earth’s crust and mantle and track the sources of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Carbonate Melting Enhances Mantle CO2 Fluxes in Old Ocean Basins
The amount of CO2 segregated from the mantle by carbonate melting beneath old oceanic crust may equal that emitted along the mid-ocean ridge system, thereby contributing to the global carbon cycle.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Is Mars Not So Earthlike After All?
Light-colored Gale crater rocks could have formed from intraplate volcanoes, not continental crust, new study finds.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Linking Mantle Plumes to Volcanoes and Hot Spot Tracks
Study bolsters hypothesis that volcanoes on China’s Hainan Island were formed by a hot spot.
Posted inNews
Harry W. Green II (1940–2017)
By keenly probing mantle rheology, interactions of deformations and phase transitions, and microscopic features, he made major contributions to petrology, mineralogy, and earthquake science.
Posted inNews
Diamond Impurities Reveal Water Deep Within the Mantle
A high-pressure form of ice, trapped within diamonds forged in the lower mantle, suggests that aqueous fluids reside deeper in Earth than we knew.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Widespread Mantle Upwelling Beneath Oceanic Transform Faults
A global characterization of mantle flow patterns beneath active oceanic transforms suggests pervasive upwelling stabilizes divergent plate boundaries by warming and weakening these enigmatic features.