New evidence from deep mantle plumes suggests that Earth’s liquid outer core might be leaking tungsten isotopes into the lower mantle.
Earth’s interior
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Hiding Deep Hydrous Melts at the Core-Mantle Boundary
Silicate melts containing H2O in the lowermost mantle are surprisingly dense and may stagnate there, trapping primordial volatiles and potentially causing some of the ultra-low velocity zones.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
The Lower Mantle May Have a Wet Bottom
Molecular dynamics calculations suggest that molten hydrogen-bearing iron peroxide (FeO2Hx) may produce the ultra-low velocity zones that occur at the core-mantle boundary.
Posted inNews
Louise H. Kellogg (1959–2019)
Louise Kellogg, an influential solid Earth geodynamicist and leader of the geoscience community, passed away in April.
Posted inNews
The Blob Causing Earthquakes
Geophysicists discover that a “blob” of rock sinking into the mantle is the force triggering earthquakes in the Hindu Kush.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Measuring Explosive Events on Earth from the Ionosphere
Natural and manmade explosive events occurring on or below the Earth’s surface can be measured remotely in different ways and different places from the ionosphere.
Posted inOpinions
Looking Down to Reach to the Stars
Discoveries deep beneath Earth’s surface drive planetary exploration, and discoveries on other planets inform our understanding of the world beneath our feet.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Explaining the Genesis of Superdeep Diamonds
Real-time tracking during diamond anvil cell experiments indicates reaction rates may control the unusual depth distribution of the extremely rare diamonds that form deep within Earth’s mantle.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Seismic Anisotropy Due to a Compositionally Layered Mantle
Investigating the role of layered rocks and compositional banding on mineral scale in generating seismic anisotropy in the mantle.
Posted inFeatures
Isotope Geochemists Glimpse Earth’s Impenetrable Interior
Painstaking measurements of isotopes and their relative abundance in rocks have illuminated the hidden inner Earth and our planet’s origins and shadowy past for much of the preceding century.