Iceland’s recent basalt eruptions originated at the crust-mantle boundary and show chemical variability over remarkably short timescales of weeks, suggesting exchanges between diverse magma sources.
Earth’s crust
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Past Fracture Damage Can Inhibit Earthquake Slip
Around the surface rupture of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, a new study documents an anti-correlation between pre-existing fracture damage and earthquake slip – implying that damage inhibited slip.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Compositional Anomalies Complicate Our Model of Mantle Convection
A new study expands on recent research which suggests that oceanic crust accumulates in the mid-mantle. The new seismological constraints advance our understanding of thermo-chemical planetary evolution.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Crustal Melts at the Core-Mantle Boundary
Seismic waves get sent in all directions for deep mantle anomalies, and a new analysis shows where those scatters lie and what properties they have.
Posted inNews
Sedimentos radiactivos podrían haber construido los cratones de la Tierra
La meteorización de los primeros continentes podría haber puesto en marcha la formación de cratones, las raíces inmutables de los continentes.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Seismology Helps Us Understand How Material Flows in Earth’s Deepest Mantle
Recent progress in the analysis of seismic waves enables us to determine where, and sometimes how, the base of the mantle deforms.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Cómo los movimientos del manto dan forma a la superficie terrestre
Dos nuevos conjuntos de datos ayudan a los investigadores a separar las influencias de la tectónica de placas y el movimiento del manto en la topografía de la superficie.
Posted inNews
Radioactive Sediments May Have Built Earth’s Cratons
Weathering of the earliest continents could have set in motion the formation of cratons, the immutable roots of continents.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
How Tiny Cracks Lead to Large-Scale Faults
Researchers could soon gain new insights into fault development in Earth’s brittle crust, thanks to a computational approach that harnesses experimental observations of microscale rock damage.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Ancient Crustal Weaknesses Contribute to Modern Earthquakes in West Africa
Researchers dive into the mechanisms and stresses that trigger earthquakes along the passive margin and interior of the continent.