All articles tagged with #geodynamics
A new study suggests that massive structures in Earth's mantle, called LLSVPs and ULVZs, are remnants of early Earth’s chaotic formation, influenced by material leaking from the core, which helps explain Earth's habitability and surface activity.
Scientists from Oxford, Leeds, and UCL discovered that carbon played a crucial role in Earth's inner core formation, reducing supercooling requirements and potentially more abundant than previously thought, which impacts our understanding of Earth's magnetic field and interior dynamics.
A new study suggests that subduction and continental crust formation on Earth began hundreds of millions of years earlier than previously believed, during the Hadean Eon, indicating a more active early Earth than traditionally thought.
Geologists from HKU have found evidence that Earth's early continents formed primarily through mantle plume activity and sagduction, rather than plate collisions, based on analysis of ancient rocks and isotopic signatures, shedding new light on early Earth's geodynamic processes.
A recent study published in Nature Geoscience reveals that Earth's core may be leaking iron into the mantle, challenging the long-held belief of a stable interior. Through high-pressure experiments and geodynamic modeling, researchers found that temperature gradients could cause iron isotopes to migrate from the core to the mantle. This discovery suggests a more dynamic Earth, with implications for understanding geological processes, plate tectonics, and the planet's magnetic field. The findings highlight Earth's interior as a constantly shifting and evolving system.
Chinese scientists have discovered that the Earth's inner core undergoes a periodic wobble around its rotational axis every 8.5 years, a phenomenon that could impact our understanding of the Earth's magnetic field and geophysical properties. This wobble, detected at a depth of approximately 1,800 miles, occurs due to a slight misalignment between the inner core and the mantle. The study, published in Nature Communications, highlights the complex interactions within Earth's core, which influence the planet's day length and magnetic protection against solar radiation.
New geochemical evidence from Earth's oldest-known rocks in Canada challenges previous models suggesting plate tectonics operated from the planet's early days. The study found no evidence of surface material recycling at 4.0 billion years ago, indicating subduction and plate recycling may not have been present at that time. However, a distinct shift in silicon and oxygen isotopes at 3.8 billion years ago suggests a possible change in Earth's geodynamics, potentially marking the onset of plate subduction. The findings shed light on the early history of tectonic activity on Earth.