A new study demonstrates that robust anelastic attenuation measurements can be made across ocean bottom seismic arrays at different locations using surface wave array analysis.
Earth's interior
Billion-Year Rewind Tracks Supercontinents and Mantle Structures
Scientists have traced past pathways of tectonic plates back a billion years using computer models, with intriguing results. Incorporating geologic data as a check on model output, however, has proven tricky.
Making Waves
Sources of tsunamis are undersea, underground, and under the microscope in our October issue.
Global Seismic Networks: Recording the Heartbeat of the Earth
Global broadband seismographic networks have provided the science community with 30 years of data which is being used to understand the Earth.
New Map of Proposed Mantle-Driven Topography Stirs the Pot
The role the deep Earth plays in creating topography is hotly debated. A new study uses subtle elevation changes around the globe as evidence that the mantle plays a key role in building topography.
Old Igneous Rocks Hold the Key to Crustal Thickness Evolution
The chemical composition of orogenic igneous rocks and their zircons is sensitive to crustal thickness and can be used to quantify the evolution of Moho depths beneath continents back in time.
Earth’s Lower Mantle Is Drier Than Previously Thought
Scientists have long known that the two layers of Earth’s mantle have different chemical compositions. Now, modeling shows that different water concentrations may keep them from mixing.
Western US Adjoint Tomography Reproduces Waveform Complexity
Adjoint tomography employing 3D wavefield simulations for 72 well recorded regional earthquakes in the western U.S. yields spectacular improvements to waveform fits.
Holey Eclogite!
Scientists have found holes filled with minerals that indicate fluid-filled pores exist many tens of kilometers below Earth’s surface. But no, The Core fans, you still can’t get amethyst-laden geodes in the mantle.
Million or Billion? Narrowing Down the Age of Mantle Processes in New Guinea
Mantle rocks in Papua New Guinea contain curious geochemical signatures that scientists have traditionally interpreted as evidence of billions-year-old melting. New evidence suggests otherwise.