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 114 results
In Earth’s Magma Ocean, Carbon Chemistry Got Complicated 15 February 2019 Feature

In the first 100 million years after the formation of the solar system, another planetary body…

Cartoon of rocky growth of planets
Collision with a Mars-Sized Body Delivered Carbon to Early Earth 28 January 2019 Feature

About 4.6 billion years ago, meteorites and other ancient building blocks began to coalesce to form…

A Step Toward Modeling Carbonatites in the Subsurface 25 January 2019 Feature

When generations of phytoplankton with calcium carbonate shells die, their shells accumulate on the…

Atlantis Massif Drillsites
Subsurface Life in the Atlantis Massif: Just Add Water? 17 October 2018 Feature

When mantle rocks come into contact with seawater, the resulting reaction, called serpentinization…

Did a Burst of Halogens Kick Off the End-Permian Extinction? 27 August 2018 Feature

About 250 million years ago, one of the largest known volcanic events in history flooded the area…

Earth rasterized
Carbon Dioxide Stays Solid Under Deep Mantle Conditions 8 August 2018 Feature

On the surface, carbon dioxide moves in complex cycles between living organisms and the physical…

blue boron-bearing diamond
Origin of Blue Diamonds Discovered 1 August 2018 Feature

Experts judge a diamond’s worth by the four Cs, “color, clarity, cut, and carat weight,” and blue…

MORB
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
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…

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