All posts tagged: Earth’s Crust

Earth’s core may hold 45 oceans worth of hydrogen, study finds

Earth’s core may hold 45 oceans worth of hydrogen, study finds

Published by Jenni Sidey

A new scientific revelation reveals that deep in the Earth’s core lies a good amount of hydrogen as well as a large amount of iron. While the iron in the core has always been recognized as dominant, the addition of hydrogen could account for up to 45 ocean equivalents of hydrogen when compared to the amount found in Earth’s oceans today, according to a report just published in Nature Communications. Scientists have known for many years that pure iron could not account for the density of the Earth’s core. Therefore, they have theorized that there must be some amount of lighter elements incorporated into the core. The most likely candidate for inclusion is hydrogen, being the lightest element in the universe. New research from Peking University concludes that significant amounts of hydrogen are locked away within the core of the Earth. Previous research made it possible to directly examine the way in which hydrogen behaves under extreme conditions, just as existed at the time of Earth’s creation. Mass spectrum of nanostructures within the metal recovered …

Scientists create the first global map of rare, deep-mantle earthquakes

Scientists create the first global map of rare, deep-mantle earthquakes

Published by Jenni Sidey

Stanford University researchers have pulled back a curtain on a hidden part of Earth that rarely makes headlines. Their new work maps a strange kind of earthquake that starts deep below the crust, inside the continental mantle. The team says the map could help you understand how earthquakes begin, even the ones that shake your neighborhood. The study, published in Science, comes from Shiqi (Axel) Wang and geophysics professor Simon Klemperer at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. They built what they call the first global map of these rare “continental mantle earthquakes,” events that happen beneath the crust but away from major subduction zones. “Until this study, we haven’t had a clear global perspective on how many continental mantle earthquakes are really happening and where,” said Wang, a former PhD student in Klemperer’s lab. “With this new dataset, we can start to probe at the various ways these rare mantle earthquakes initiate.” These quakes are usually too deep to do much at the surface. Still, their odd birthplace may give scientists a cleaner view …

NASA satellites help scientists observe how rivers carve the Earth

NASA satellites help scientists observe how rivers carve the Earth

Published by Jenni Sidey

A satellite built to measure Earth’s water has started answering a different kind of question. “What’s the shape of water?” Specifically, “How is water reshaping the ground beneath it?” NASA launched the Surface Water and Ocean Topography satellite, known as SWOT, in 2022. Its main job is to measure the height and spread of water across the planet. Now, Virginia Tech geoscientists say the same measurements can help you see rivers at work as builders and destroyers of landscapes. “We wanted to show how the satellite could be used in ways that it wasn’t primarily designed for,” said postdoctoral associate Molly Stroud, first author of a recent publication in the Geological Society of America Today. “How are rivers and streams moving sediment and shaping the Earth’s surface?” That question sits at the center of fluvial geomorphology, the field that studies how flowing water sculpts land. For years, this work often felt slow and local. Researchers might spend days measuring one reach of one river. They would map cross sections, estimate sediment movement, and try to …

Earth’s core is leaking vast amounts of gold through the mantle, study finds

Earth’s core is leaking vast amounts of gold through the mantle, study finds

Published by Jenni Sidey

Researchers at Göttingen University have uncovered new evidence that some of Earth’s most precious metals began their journey far deeper than once thought. Working with volcanic rocks from ocean islands, the team shows that gold and related metals can leak from Earth’s core, move through the mantle, and eventually reach the crust. The study, published in Nature, was led by geochemists Nils Messling and Matthias Willbold. Their work focuses on tiny chemical differences locked inside volcanic rocks formed far below the surface. These differences help trace where the material came from and how it moved through the planet. “When the first results came in, we realized that we had literally struck gold!” Messling said. “Our data confirmed that material from the core, including gold and other precious metals, is leaking into the Earth’s mantle above.” Researchers from Göttingen found tiny traces of the precious metal Ruthenium with an anomalous isotopic composition in lavas from Hawaii. The new findings prove that the Earth’s core is leaking metallic material, including gold and other precious metals. (CREDIT: United …