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 inAGU News
Peter Olson Receives 2015 Inge Lehmann Medal
Peter Olson was awarded the 2015 Inge Lehmann Medal at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting Honors Ceremony, held on 16 December 2015 in San Francisco, Calif. The medal is for "outstanding contributions to the understanding of the structure, composition, and dynamics of the Earth's mantle and core."
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 inNews
Earth's Water Came from Space Dust During Planetary Formation
A new analysis of lava from the deep mantle indicates that water-soaked dust particles, rather than a barrage of icy comets, asteroids, or other bodies, delivered water to the newly forming Earth.
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 inAGU News
Liu Receives 2015 Jason Morgan Early Career Award
Lijun Liu will receive the 2015 Jason Morgan Early Career Award at the 2015 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, to be held 14–18 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award is for significant early-career contributions in tectonophysics.
Posted inAGU News
Cottaar Receives 2015 Keiiti Aki Young Scientist Award
Sanne Cottaar will receive the 2015 Keiiti Aki Young Scientist Award at the 2015 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, to be held 14–18 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes the scientific accomplishments of a young scientist who makes outstanding contributions to the advancement of seismology.