Scientists Detect Deep, Rhythmic Pulse Coming From Inside the Earth
Scientists have discovered a heartbeat-like pulse emanating from inside the Earth beneath the continent of Africa, which they believe will one day rip the continent into pieces.
In a new study published today in the journal Nature Geoscience, a team of European and African scientists explain how they used chemical signatures to examine this inner-Earth heartbeat, explaining that molten chunks of mantle — the rocky layer found between the Earth's surface and core — are surging together through rift zones, or weak areas of volcanos where magma is likeliest to break through our planet's crust.
These internal surges have settled into rhythmic bursts of pulsing plumes. Which, while fascinating to imagine, effectively means that bursts of molten rock are pushing against the African continent's crust — and over millions of years, will likely tear the continent apart, making way for a new ocean basin.
Researchers focused on the Afar region of Ethiopia, a volcanic area where multiple rift zones are located, collecting and analyzing around 130 samples of volcanic rock.
"We found that the mantle beneath Afar is not uniform or stationary," said Emma Watts, a Swansea University geologist and lead author of the study, in a statement. "It pulses, and these pulses carry distinct chemical signatures."
As the Independent notes, the research is significant because while scientists have believed for some time that the region's mantle was being pushed against its crust and causing it to expand, they didn't quite know why.
This new research offers scientists a deeper understanding of that process. What's more, it reveals that the Earth's plates actually have a huge influence on the movements of the molten magma located beneath them.
"These pulses appear to behave differently depending on the thickness of the plate, and how fast it's pulling apart," said study co-author Tom Gernon, a geologist at the University of Southampton, in a statement. "In faster-spreading rifts like the Red Sea, the pulses travel more efficiently and regularly like a pulse through a narrow artery."
Excitingly, the researchers believe their discovery will pave the way for more breakthroughs in how we understand and study volcanic activity, the dynamic inner workings of our planet, and what activity found today means for Earth's future.
"This has profound implications," said the University of Southampton's Derek Keir, an earth sciences professor and study co-author, in a statement, "for how we interpret surface volcanism, earthquake activity, and the process of continental breakup."
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Scientists Detect Deep, Rhythmic Pulse Coming From Inside the Earth
Scientists have discovered a heartbeat-like pulse emanating from inside the Earth beneath the continent of Africa, which they believe will one day rip the continent into pieces. In a new study published today in the journal Nature Geoscience, a team of European and African scientists explain how they used chemical signatures to examine this inner-Earth heartbeat, explaining that molten chunks of mantle — the rocky layer found between the Earth's surface and core — are surging together through rift zones, or weak areas of volcanos where magma is likeliest to break through our planet's crust. These internal surges have settled into rhythmic bursts of pulsing plumes. Which, while fascinating to imagine, effectively means that bursts of molten rock are pushing against the African continent's crust — and over millions of years, will likely tear the continent apart, making way for a new ocean basin. Researchers focused on the Afar region of Ethiopia, a volcanic area where multiple rift zones are located, collecting and analyzing around 130 samples of volcanic rock. "We found that the mantle beneath Afar is not uniform or stationary," said Emma Watts, a Swansea University geologist and lead author of the study, in a statement. "It pulses, and these pulses carry distinct chemical signatures." As the Independent notes, the research is significant because while scientists have believed for some time that the region's mantle was being pushed against its crust and causing it to expand, they didn't quite know why. This new research offers scientists a deeper understanding of that process. What's more, it reveals that the Earth's plates actually have a huge influence on the movements of the molten magma located beneath them. "These pulses appear to behave differently depending on the thickness of the plate, and how fast it's pulling apart," said study co-author Tom Gernon, a geologist at the University of Southampton, in a statement. "In faster-spreading rifts like the Red Sea, the pulses travel more efficiently and regularly like a pulse through a narrow artery." Excitingly, the researchers believe their discovery will pave the way for more breakthroughs in how we understand and study volcanic activity, the dynamic inner workings of our planet, and what activity found today means for Earth's future. "This has profound implications," said the University of Southampton's Derek Keir, an earth sciences professor and study co-author, in a statement, "for how we interpret surface volcanism, earthquake activity, and the process of continental breakup." More on planet Earth: A Strange Darkness Is Spreading Throughout the Oceans
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When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Rhythmic pulses of molten rock are rising beneath eastern Africa, according to a new study. The pulsing plume of hot mantle beneath Ethiopia, driven by plate tectonics, is slowly pulling the region apart and forming a new ocean near the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, researchers reported June 25 in the journal Nature Geoscience. "We have found that the evolution of deep mantle upwellings is intimately tied to the motion of the plates above," Derek Keir, an Earth scientist at the University of Southampton and the University of Florence, said in a statement. "This has profound implications for how we interpret surface volcanism, earthquake activity, and the process of continental breakup." The mantle plume lies under Ethiopia's Afar region, at the intersection of three tectonic plates. All of the rifts between these plates are different ages, and they are changing at different rates; some are in the process of forming new oceans, while others are pulling apart the crust beneath Africa. But the structure and motion of the plume, as well as the forces driving these movements, aren't well understood. To investigate the structure of the crust and the mantle plume beneath it, the scientists studied the chemical compositions of more than 130 samples of volcanic rocks from the Afar region. These samples provided information about the depth and composition of melted rock beneath the surface. The team also used computer models to determine how the region might respond to different kinds of mantle plumes and compared those responses to existing geological data. A single mantle plume lies beneath all three rifts, the researchers found, but its chemical composition is not uniform. Further, the molten rock surges upward rhythmically, leaving behind distinct chemical signatures. "The chemical striping suggests the plume is pulsing, like a heartbeat," Tom Gernon, an Earth scientist at the University of Southampton, said in the statement. "These pulses appear to behave differently depending on the thickness of the plate, and how fast it's pulling apart. In faster-spreading rifts like the Red Sea, the pulses travel more efficiently and regularly like a pulse through a narrow artery." RELATED STORIES —Study reveals 'flawed argument' in debate over when plate tectonics began —There's a 'ghost' plume lurking beneath the Middle East — and it might explain how India wound up where it is today —Africa is being torn apart by a 'superplume' of hot rock from deep within Earth, study suggests Varying spacing between the stripes in different rifts suggests that the mantle plume responds differently depending on the tectonic plates above. In places where the lithosphere — the crust and upper mantle — is thicker, the mantle flow is impeded, and the striping is more condensed. Under a thinner lithosphere, the stripes are more spread out. The findings could help scientists understand volcanic activity at the surface. "The work shows that deep mantle upwellings can flow beneath the base of tectonic plates and help to focus volcanic activity to where the tectonic plate is thinnest," Keir said in the statement. Future work in the Afar region could involve investigating the rate of mantle flow beneath the various plates, Keir added.
