As reported by The Sun, Wednesday (16/3/3022), the lumps of rock under the Earth’s crust are each the size of a continent and 100 times higher than Mount Everest.
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One of them lies beneath Africa, while the other can be found under the Pacific Ocean.
As expected since the 1980s, the plume under Africa is much higher.
In fact, it is twice as high as in the rest of the world, measuring about 997 kilometers higher.
But more importantly, scientists have found that African rock clumps are also less dense and less stable.
There is no specific explanation for this situation, but it could be the reason why the continent has had more supervolcanic eruptions over hundreds of millions of years than similar blobs in the Pacific Ocean.
“This instability could have many implications for surface tectonics, as well as earthquakes and supervolcanic eruptions,” said Qian Yuan, a researcher from the University of Arizona.
This thermo-chemical material is officially known as the large low shear velocity region (LLSVP) and has been studied by looking at data from seismic waves and running hundreds of simulations.
Although now scientists have received an answer that the two have different compositions, they still don’t know how it affects the mantle which is between the planet’s core and the earth’s crust.
“This work has far-reaching implications for scientists trying to understand the current status and structure evolution the inner mantle as well as the convective properties of the mantle,” said Yuan.
(wbs)
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