Earth scientists have discovered how continents are slowly peeled from beneath, fuelling volcanic activity in an unexpected place: the oceans.
Earth scientists have discovered how continents are slowly peeled from beneath, fuelling volcanic activity in an unexpected place: the oceans.
The research, led by the University of Southampton, shows how slivers of continents are slowly stripped from below and swept into the oceanic mantle – the hot, mostly solid layer beneath the ocean floor that slowly flows. Here, the continental material fuels volcanic activity for tens of millions of years.
The discovery solves a long-standing geological mystery: why many ocean islands far from plate tectonic boundaries contain materials that look distinctly continental, despite being found in the middle of oceans.
Read more at: University of Southampton
A piece of the lowermost continental mantle (the crystalline roots of the continents). This represents the material that the research proposes is removed and swept sideways into the oceanic mantle. (Photo Credit: Prof Tom Gernon)
