Scientists found upwellings of material beneath the Earth’s surface from depths far lower than previously known.
Thirty-nine seismometers were deployed on the ocean floor across the Mid-Atlantic Ridge as part of the PI-LAB experiment. (The University of Southampton)
(CN) — Material welling up from the Earth’s mantle could be slowly moving North and South America away from Europe and Africa, according to a study published Wednesday.
Between those four continents, and the tectonic plates they are attached to, is the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where new plates are formed. In the study published in Nature, a team of researchers from the University of Southampton and the University of Oxford say they discovered evidence of upwellings in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge from depths far deeper than such upwellings have been previously thought to originate.