Whole-mantle convection with tectonic plates preserves long-term global patterns of upper mantle geochemistry. Scientific Reports , 2017; 7 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-01816-y Cite This Page : ...

Neither the upper nor lower mantle can be water-saturated (which would otherwise cause drastic viscosity reductions), and thus the bulk water estimates require the transition zone to have ...

Through a combination of previous seismological and mineral physics studies, it is well known that the Earth's mantle is divided (mineralogically) into two major regimes: the upper and the lower ...

The asthenosphere is a 110 miles (180 km) thick layer of the upper mantle that sits between the lower mantle and the lithosphere, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

Geophysicists have long theorized that the mantle transition zone, wedged between the upper and lower mantle at depths of 410 to 660 kilometers, could be a secret vault for Earth’s lost water.

The sinking, shifting and formation of plates drive convection in the planet’s interior that shifts heat. This process also controls how fast different regions of the mantle cool.

Schematic representation of the process of subduction of tectonic plates and of a mantle plume rising from an LLSVP. In the latter, the mineral grains are larger than those in the subducted plates ...

These transformations influence tectonic plate dynamics and mantle convection. The discovery of an unusually thick transition zone beneath the Lesser Antilles suggests a unique, basalt-rich ...

Research on hidden structures deep within Earth’s mantle challenges theories about our planet’s middle layer and could transform our understanding of plate tectonics.

One theory holds that the lower lithosphere splits away and sinks into the mantle in a process called foundering. Conclusive evidence of foundering, however, has been hard to come by.