Underneath old and stable pieces of Earth's crust in North America, the mantle's uppermost portion contains multiple layers that change the velocities of seismic waves.
Earth's interior
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Improved Models of Wind Flow over Mountains
A new approach for representing areas of low-lying mountains improves the simulation of atmospheric flow over gentle topography without increasing computational requirements.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
P Wave Amplitude Decay Offers a Glimpse of Earth's Structure
Scientists look at deep earthquake signals to map how seismic waves lose energy in the upper mantle across the United States.
Posted inScience Updates
UAE-Oman Mountains Give Clues to Oceanic Crust and Mantle Rocks
When oceanic plates meet continental plates, the continental plates usually come out on top. Cases where this is reversed provide valuable access to oceanic crust and mantle materials.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
North America Does the Wave (Slowly)
Data-driven modeling helps explain how convection currents in Earth's mantle influence the rise and fall of surface features, but these models are in an early stage.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
New Insights into the Composition of Inner Earth
Isotopic signatures in volcanic basalts show that Earth's interior is even less uniform than scientists previously thought.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Mantle Below North American Plate Newly Modeled
Data from seismometers spread out across the United States give new clues to the location of structures in the underlying mantle.