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peridotites

Diagram of the model presented in the paper.
Posted inEditors' Highlights

Hawai’i’s Depleted Peridotite Delivers More Magma

by Vincent Salters 24 March 202524 March 2025

The source for the isotopically-enriched Hawaiian magmas contains peridotites that experienced near-surface melting prior incorporation in the plume.

View overlooking part of Acapulco, Mexico, in the foreground with Acapulco Bay beyond
Posted inResearch Spotlights

Talc May Make Mexico’s Subduction Zone More Slippery

Aaron Sidder, freelance science writer by Aaron Sidder 23 August 202323 August 2023

Production of the weak, water-bearing mineral at the interface between the Cocos and North American Plates could contribute to the occurrence of poorly understood episodic tremor and slow slip.

Graph from the paper
Posted inEditors' Highlights

The Depleted Mantle Merry-Go-Round 

by Vincent Salters 5 April 20234 August 2023

Abyssal peridotites show through their isotopic composition a complex history. From differences we can infer the existence of ultra depleted mantle and an uneven contribution to ridge magmatism.

Image of a thin section of peridotite, taken under a microscope, with the pinks, greens, purples, and blues of olivine crystals of various sizes mixed with other, less brightly colored minerals
Posted inNews

Million or Billion? Narrowing Down the Age of Mantle Processes in New Guinea

by Alka Tripathy-Lang 16 May 202220 June 2024

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.

Painting depicting the surface of Earth during the Hadean eon, with a liquid water ocean, volcanoes, and meteors streaking through the sky
Posted inScience Updates

A Simple Recipe for Making the First Continental Crust

by Anastassia Y. Borisova and Anne Nédélec 5 November 202116 May 2022

Laboratory experiments serendipitously revealed a rock-forming process that might explain how the first continental crust formed on Earth—and possibly on Mars.

A packer installation near Ibra, Oman, in January 2019
Posted inResearch Spotlights

Shedding Light on Microbial Communities in Deep Aquifers

Kate Wheeling, freelance science writer by Kate Wheeling 20 October 202116 May 2022

Researchers use a packer system to study the microbial communities living in waters sampled from deep, uncontaminated peridotite aquifers.

Mantle-derived peridotite xenolith from San Carlos, Arizona, showing green olivine crystals.
Posted inScience Updates

Understanding Electrical Signals from Below Earth’s Surface

by A. Pommier and J. Roberts 19 November 20189 March 2023

A new version of a free Web application (SIGMELTS 2.0) helps Earth scientists interpret electrical anomalies in Earth’s crust and mantle and track the sources of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

Secondary electron microscope images showing microstructures of stressed grains.
Posted inResearch Spotlights

Probing the Grain-Scale Processes That Drive Plate Tectonics

by Terri Cook 8 December 201722 September 2022

New experimental data suggest that rock composition may play a critical role in forming and perpetuating shear zones.

research-model-temperature-mantle-melting-pyroxenites
Posted inResearch Spotlights

A Better Model for How the Mantle Melts

Kate Wheeling, freelance science writer by Kate Wheeling 28 September 20164 August 2023

A new model of the melting behavior of certain mantle rocks gives researchers a better understanding of the source of oceanic lavas.

Posted inResearch Spotlights

Pyroxenes Can Be Used to Estimate Upper Mantle Water Content

JoAnna Wendel, freelance science writer and illustrator by JoAnna Wendel 9 September 20144 August 2023

Scientists suggest using the mineral pyroxene to study the water content of the Earth’s upper mantle.

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