A group of scientists has discovered a hidden layer of molten rock beneath the Earth’s surface. The new layer lies about 160 kilometers below the surface and appears to extend under most of Earth’s outer crust. Learning more about it could help unravel the mysteries of plate tectonics.
A new study of the discovery has been published in the journal Nature Geoscience. In this study, the researchers detail how a hidden layer of soft rock below Earth’s upper mantle, the asthenosphere, was formed. Details about this part of the Earth have long been a mystery.
The researchers note that while they appear to be floating on this molten rock layer, the tectonic plates actually do not appear to be connected to this molten layer in any way. This means that the newly discovered layer below the Earth does not play a major role in how the tectonic plates floating above the asthenosphere move. The new discovery will help researchers refine existing models of Earth’s moving parts and better understand how they move.
However, the exact relationship between tectonic plates and this newly discovered layer of Earth is still somewhat of a mystery. Scientists are still unsure whether the unmolten fragments in the molten rock somehow interfere with the gliding paths on which the tectonic plates rest.
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