Blobs in the Mantle
There are blobs in the mantle. Are they hotter areas or are they a different composition?
Two enormous regions of ultra-hot material sit beneath Africa and the Pacific Ocean.
Olena Shmahalo/Quanta Magazine; source data: Sanne Cottaar
A correspondent has brought THIS ARTICLE to my attention. It discusses the possibilities and describes how they were found. And this gives them their name - Large Low-Shear-Velocity Provinces or LLSVPs.
The different composition theory seems to be winning at the moment. But is the composition difference due to crystal settling during cooling or are they parts of Theia, the Mars sized body whose impact with the Earth gave rise to the Moon?
Obviously there is a lot still to be settled about these blobs including the affect they have on the Earths surface. Read the article to get some idea of how little we know!
The different composition theory seems to be winning at the moment. But is the composition difference due to crystal settling during cooling or are they parts of Theia, the Mars sized body whose impact with the Earth gave rise to the Moon?
Obviously there is a lot still to be settled about these blobs including the affect they have on the Earths surface. Read the article to get some idea of how little we know!
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