Earth’s abundant water, life, and unique plate tectonics have shaped its history, however, a new study suggests that plate tectonics may be a recent phenomenon with the mantle previously stratified, possibly hiding undisturbed primordial material.
Earth is truly unique among our Solar System’s planets. It has vast water oceans and abundant life. However, Earth’s distinctiveness extends beyond its biodiversity and oceans—it is the sole planet within our solar system that experiences the phenomenon of plate tectonics, a process intrinsic to the shaping of its geological structure, climate, and, potentially, the progression of life itself.
The term ‘plate tectonics’ signifies the dynamic movement and intricate interaction of tectonic plates across Earth’s crust. These tectonic plates are set in motion by the painstakingly slow yet persistent flow of Earth’s mantle, referred to as convection. This process transports heat from the inner core to the surface of our planet.
Researchers believe that convection in the mantle, which started shortly after Earth’s formation 4.5 billion years ago, occurs at the scale of the whole mantle. So, when plates collide at Earth’s surface, one gives way and sinks into the hot mantle and ends up in a sort of plate graveyard on top of Earth’s metallic core.
However, a new study from the University of Copenhagen published in the journal Nature suggests that this style of plate tectonics may be a more recent feature of Earth’s geologic history.
“Our new results suggest that for most of Earth’s history, convection in the mantle was stratified into two distinct layers, namely upper and lower mantle regions that were isolated from each other,” says Zhengbin Deng, former assistant professor at the University of Copenhagen and first author of the new study.
The transition between the upper and lower mantle occurs at about 660 km below Earth’s surface. At this depth, certain minerals undergo a phase transition. Deng and colleagues believe that this phase transition may be the reason why the upper and lower mantle regions remained mostly isolated.
“Our findings indicate that in the past, recycling and mixing of subducted plates into the mantle was restricted to the upper mantle, where there is strong convection. This is very different from how we think plate tectonics operates today, where subducting plates sink to lower mantle,” says associate professor Martin Schiller who is also behind the new study.
To reach their conclusions, the scientists developed a new method to produce ultra-high precision measurements of the isotopic composition of the element titanium in various rocks. Isotopes are versions of the same element that have slightly different masses. The isotopic composition of titanium is modified when the crust is formed on Earth. This makes titanium isotopes useful to trace how surface material like the crust is recycled in Earth’s mantle through geologic time. Using this new technique, they determined the composition of mantle rocks that formed as early as 3.8 billion years ago all the way down to modern lavas.
A primordial soup preserved in the deep Earth?
If recycling and mixing of tectonic plates were restricted to the upper mantle as postulated in the new study, it means that the lower mantle could contain undisturbed primordial material. The concept of a primordial mantle refers to a reservoir of mantle material that has remained relatively unchanged and preserved since the early stages of the Earth’s formation, about 4.5 billion years ago.
The idea that a primordial reservoir exists in the deep Earth is not new and has been suggested based on the isotopic composition of rare gases trapped in lavas from modern deep-seated volcanoes. However, the interpretation of these data is ambiguous, and some have suggested that this isotope signal comes from Earth’s core as opposed to the deep mantle. Because titanium is not present in Earth’s core, it provides a fresh perspective on this long-standing debate.
“Our new titanium isotope data allows us to robustly identify which modern deep-seated volcanoes sample Earth’s primordial mantle. This is exciting because it provides a time window into our planet’s original composition, possibly allowing us to identify the source of Earth’s volatiles that were essential for life to develop,” concludes Professor Martin Bizzarro, also behind the study.
Reference: “Earth’s evolving geodynamic regime recorded by titanium isotopes” by Zhengbin Deng, Martin Schiller, Matthew G. Jackson, Marc-Alban Millet, Lu Pan, Katrine Nikolajsen, Nikitha S. Saji, Dongyang Huang and Martin Bizzarro, 26 July 2023, Nature.
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06304-0
they are spreading radio-brain-waves continuously onto my brain
they are reading my thoughts with it and they are making voices on various noises
the sun becomes stronger – when i go onto direct sunlight – mainly in the summer times (not always – not always so intense)(continuous effect also exist)
this makes the weather very bad (unstable jet stream)
it is very harmful to me (eg.: i cannot use wifi extender at home)
please help me – i am begging you
Sell all your belongings and move as far north as you can. learn to hunt and fish and survive like the eskimos. you’ll be okay then 🙂 don’t let the demons win.
Stop doing the last part of your last name..
This shift may cause minor changes in crust eg, climate, physical appearance, behaviour, etc.
I have no idea how I could possibly help you but will try
Really, and Biden, John Carey thinks they can control climate by taking away our oil,gas stoves,ovens, A/C,cars etc.we live in a living world and it decides what our climate is not government.
E1 knows the u.s. govt is the STUPIDEST people in the entire history of the planet. Which is remarkable to be the STUPIDEST humans to have ever lived. It is astounding. Wait till the bat virus obama, biden concocted in 2014 comes hunting all them.
Every 13,000 years there is turmoil on the planet when the effects of precession kick in. The earth’s axis describes an elipse and it is now very near the apex of that elipse when it changes direction. That change causes massive strain on the mantle which subsequently results in land masses ending up in a different latitude, Siberia was once temperate and Antarctica was totally ice free. In the 15th century a Turkish admiral, Piri Reis, had a map made up from earlier ones showing an ice free Antarctica and modern geological and satelite surveys have confirmed the map to be totally accurate showing rivers, lakes, mountains and coastline.Global warming is not man made and cannot be reversed or changed by the puny human race as it is a natural phenomenon, the sun being the driving force but the ‘elites’ will continue pushing the scam in order to denude the general public of any finance above allowed level so that they are kept from gaining too much financial clout and ultimate power. Farage is absolutely correct in countering the unacceptable actions of the banking industry.
Jeff Evans you are absolutely correct in your post however I do believe that the United States government kicked this whole process into a higher gear so that it’s happening sooner then expected with all the disruption to the natural balances if our planet such as all the digging and drilling into the ice sheets 8n antarctica to build their research facilities and the disturbance if the perma frost to study the fossilized contents within these were balances systems this planet has had in place for millions of years and the second they disturbed them by breaking that frozen barrier they exposed everything that was frozen to warmer air direct sunlight and fresh water from continuous ice melt. They started a whole chain reaction that once set into motion was impossible to reverse and it had catastrophic affects to the finely tuned balanced systems of our entire planet. Have you ever gine out in winter time to shovel snow after it’s all been compacted down into just a thick layer of ice that just lingers around for weeks on end with fresh snow accumulating on top with each new snow ??? Have you noticed that once you bust a hole through that thick layer of ice that all the ice around that hole you made just begins melting . Not because the weather’s changed it because the daily temperature range has increased in fact in can even get or become colder and it will still continue to melt once it’s been broke through where as if you’d never touched it ,….it may have stayed frozen thick ice for months until the approach of spring when things actually started thawing naturally . Well that’s what the United States government did in antarctica they broke through that frozen barrier that preserved the ice I it’s frozen state and started a melt of gargantuan proportions now the tour industry takes boat loads of tourists to idiotically clap and cheer as they watch huge melting sections of the ice sheets break off and fall into the sea and whole icebergs upping completely upside down cause the melt has made them too top heavy and they’re so ignorant they don’t even realize that what they’re cheering for is their own demise . Because that ice was not supposed to melt it kept the planet in a balanced state of condition through global weather and oceanic systems that have now been thrown into chaos due to imbalance ……this is all something that would have happened anyway probably at the time if our stars next supernova or micro nova wich is what’s theorized to trigger the next magnetic excursion were already well into the cycle of but their disturbance if the planets harmoniously balanced systems through millions of years of geological evolution have expedited this process by decades if not centuries . Not to mention all the drilling and depleting of natural resources and fracking oh and we must not forget all their testing and detonating of nuclear warheads all over the globe world leaders have done immesurable amounts of damage to this planet and set us all in a course of motion that leads to catastrophic mass extinction(much sooner then we would have gotten there on our natural course) without even a second thought or moment of hesitation cause after all they assume they’re all prepared to survive it while they leave the rest of the world to die . I hope their assumptions prove incorrect and they all perish along with the rest of the majority of life on earth.
There is natural global warming. If there wasn’t, we’d still be living in the ice age. The ice will melt, storms will become horrific, floods, and what people will call Armageddon is just another cycle of earths natural plight through space. The poles may even change their positions and and Antarctica will be a new land to discover. Another ice age may even be in the future after all of that. But the earth comes back time after time as always. If humankind wants to survive, quit being stupid, move away from areas that will flood. Don’t live close to volcanoes. It’s really common sense. Look at a recent picture of Chernobyl Russia where the nuclear plant had a meltdown. That was 1986. Same year space shuttle Challenger exploded. Scientists said Chernobyl wouldn’t Habitate life for 50,000 years. There are plants and grasses coming back. The earth will survive it’s course and if humankind wants to they need to quit being ignorant to the future of what will happen. And it’s not an Armageddon.
Yeah, yeah, yeah… democrats are stupid, and Republicans will rule the flat earth when Trump goes from president to prisoner. Grow up people. Think logically and rationally. Nobody cares about politics.