mantle

Flawed, Precious Stones Carry Clues From Deep in the Mantle

Earth’s oxygen-rich atmosphere creates extremely oxidizing conditions at the surface. Anyone who has seen rusty metal has observed oxidation in action: the oxygen steals electrons from the metal, creating crusty, red, iron oxide. Within Earth’s core, however, low levels of oxygen create much more reduced conditions. Intuitively, many researchers have supposed that Earth’s layers become less oxidized with depth, but few samples have emerged from the deep Earth to support or disprove this idea.

Content tagged with “mantle”Showing 1-10 of 107 results

Degassing from Mid-Ocean Ridges Refuses to Follow the Rules of Equilibrium 12 June 2018 Feature

A big part of understanding how much carbon Earth holds beneath its surface relies on measuring how…

Pyroxenites Put the Brakes on Mantle Melting 29 May 2018 Feature

Pyroxenites are a type of rock created when parts of Earth’s crust are injected deep in the mantle…

A Deep Dive Into the Carbon-Hydrogen Cycle 20 March 2018 Feature

DCO Extreme Physics and Chemistry Community member Eglantine Boulard with Deep Life Community…

Earth’s Core-Mantle Boundary May Be Decorated in Marble and Diamonds 19 March 2018 Feature

A new study published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters [1] finds that carbonates…

Super-Deep Diamond Holds First Glimpse of Long-Expected Mantle Mineral 8 March 2018 Feature

The recent discovery of an unusual inclusion in a rare, super-deep diamond means that calcium…

VIDEO: A Search for Magmatic Carbon Dioxide Degassing in the Afar Rift 22 February 2018 Feature

The team, led by Raphael Pik and Bernard Marty of the CNRS at the University of Lorraine, France,…

Flawed, Precious Stones Carry Clues From Deep in the Mantle 23 January 2018 Feature

In a new paper in Nature Geoscience [1], DCO researchers report the surprising news that iron in…

The ‘Kimberlite Bloom’ During Pangea’s End: Caused by Mantle Cooling Or Deep Carbon Effects? 19 January 2018 Feature

To understand the conditions that created this bloom, DCO members Sebastian Tappe, Malcolm…

Patches Along Core-Mantle Boundary May Be Deep Hiding Place for Oxygen 11 December 2017 Feature

DCO members Jin Liu, Wendy Mao (both at Stanford University, USA), and Ho-Kwang (Dave) Mao (…

Degassing from Continental Rifts Controls Earth’s Thermostat 29 November 2017 Feature

In a new paper in Nature Geoscience [1], Sascha Brune (GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences,…