The study’s findings, which challenge current scientific understanding of tectonic plate motions that cause earthquakes, were published earlier this week in the peer-reviewed academic journal Nature GeosciencePublished in . Jerusalem Postshared the details of the discovery with his readers in an article he published.
WHAT IS A TECTONIC PLATE?
Tectonic plates essentially make up the lithosphere, the hard and rocky crust of the Earth. These plates are constantly moving in different directions, like pieces of a puzzle, as the planet moves.
With these movements, seismic waves are emitted, which causes the lithosphere to release energy. This results in seismic activity causing massive destruction that could cause a devastating wave of disasters over a wide geographical area.
Earthquake is exactly that.
THE MYSTERY OF THE ASTENOSPHER
Although we know that tectonic plates are moving today, we are not entirely sure how this happened. The common belief is that this movement is related to the asthenosphere. The asthenosphere is another layer located below the lithosphere in the upper mantle. In other words, it lies just below the tectonic plates.
What is known about the asthenosphere is that it is very soft, allowing tectonic plates to move in it. Therefore, theories point out that the softness of the layer may be due to the molten rock in its content. With this research, it turns out that this is not true.
HIDDEN LAYER: PVG-150
The researchers, who noticed the traces of partially molten rock while examining the seismic activities in Turkey, were able to map the asthenosphere thanks to the data they obtained from the seismic stations.
What they found was striking: Located below the asthenosphere, this hidden layer of molten rock, called PVG-150, appeared to be quite common, especially in the high-temperature parts of the mantle. But according to the study, it had no relationship to tectonic plates.
What does this new finding reveal, apart from showing that we don’t know as much about the origins and functions of the asthenosphere or tectonic plates?
WHAT DOES THIS DISCOVERY MEAN?
With the results of that research, tectonic plate and asthenosphere models can now be developed to better reflect them, which could help further research.
Not only that, but it could also help scientists study other planets. Many planets in space have their own lithosphere. So, are the tectonic plates the same? What about the asthenosphere?
Knowing more about Earth can help us learn more about planets in space.
EARTHQUAKE
Knowing more about tectonic plates can also allow us to learn more about earthquakes.
Natural disasters can be incredibly devastating, as evidenced by the recent earthquakes in Turkey and Syria that killed thousands and injured thousands.
So the more we learn about these natural processes, the better we can guard against them.
