A Stiff New Layer in Earth's Mantle
Monday, March 23, 2015 - 12:00
in Earth & Climate
By crushing minerals between diamonds, a University of Utah study suggests the existence of an unknown layer inside Earth: part of the lower mantle where the rock gets three times stiffer. The discovery may explain a mystery: why slabs of Earth's sinking tectonic plates sometimes stall and thicken 930 miles underground.