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Scientists discover massive mountains under Earth’s crust
Why in news?
- Scientists have discovered massive mountains in the Earth’s mantle.
- An advance that may change our understanding of how the planet was formed.
More in news
Earth’s Interior is different:
- We often learn that the Earth has three layers: a crust, mantle and core, which is subdivided into an inner and outer core.
- While that is not wrong, it does leave out several other layers that scientists have identified within the Earth.
Earthquake data helps study:
- Scientists used data from an enormous earthquake in Bolivia to find mountains and other topography on a layer located 660 km straight down, which separates the upper and lower mantle.
- the researchers simply call it the 660-km boundary.
- Data from earthquakes that are magnitude 7.0 or higher sends shockwaves in all directions that can travel through the core to the other side of the planet and back again.
The transition zone:
- The key data came from waves picked up after a magnitude 8.2 earthquake (the second-largest deep earthquake ever recorded) that shook Bolivia in 1994.
- The researchers examined a layer 410 km down, at the top of the mid-mantle transition zone and they did not find similar roughness.
- The presence of roughness on the 660-km boundary has significant implications for understanding how our planet formed and evolved.
Source
The Hindu