The research team discovered rocks from the Earth’s mantle

So far, researchers have been unsuccessful drilling into the Earth’s mantle. But now she’s still able to use rocks from Earth’s mantle – a ruse.

FRANKFURT – Until now, researchers have only been able to indirectly investigate how the Earth’s interior formed: They investigate how seismic waves move inside the Earth. If these are slowed down, accelerated, or even deflected, conclusions can be drawn about the different layers in the Earth’s interior.

But for many years, scientists have also worked to get to rocks from deeper layers of the Earth. As early as 1961, a geological research expedition attempted to drill through the Earth’s crust from a ship and retrieve a rock sample from the Earth’s mantle. The attempt failed – so far, research has not succeeded in reaching the Earth’s mantle.

It lies between the crust and the Earth’s core. The boundary between the outer layer of the Earth (the Earth’s crust) and the mantle about 35 km thick is the so-called Moho (Mohorović discontinuity). This is found at depths of up to 80 kilometers, and can sometimes be found in the oceans at depths of five to 15 kilometers. Researchers have been wanting to take advantage of this for many years and have been trying to mine ships.

‘It’s been a dream for decades’ – the research team discovered rocks from the Earth’s mantle

The current crew of the research vessel JOIDES Resolution appears to have achieved something researchers have been waiting for years: the team drilled nearly 1,000 meters deep into the ocean floor and brought aquamarine rock to the surface. According to one of them, the deepest drilling in this rock was 200 meters, and it was done in 1993 A message from the ship’s crew. “The scale of the story that is unfolding here has certainly not escaped the notice of our scientific group. Many of them are experienced field researchers and believe that this will be very important data for many generations of scientists to come.”

It’s about more than just understanding a small piece of the sea floor.

In fact, the research team didn’t manage to drill all the way into the Earth’s mantle. The JOIDES Resolution explores the Atlantis Massif in the Atlantic Ocean, a submarine mountain massif that rises about 3,000 meters above the ocean floor. It is not made of the black basalt typical of ocean floors, but is made of peridotite, a rock commonly found in the Earth’s mantle. “The Atlantis massif provides the rare advantage of providing access to mantle rocks because it is composed of mantle rocks that have come close to the surface,” the researchers wrote in their statement.

“It’s about more than just understanding a small piece of the sea floor.”

The mantle rock brought to the surface by the mission has not yet been altered by weathering at the surface, which is why the researchers hope to obtain “new insights into the composition, structure, and processes that take place in the mantle.” the Theme portal Sciences I mentioned about it, that the exposed mantle rocks do not appear to have been melted in magma. Among other things, the research hopes to learn more about how magma melts and flows — things that happen in volcanoes around the world.

Other questions the researchers hope to answer relate to the production of heat in the Earth’s interior. How much heat does the entire Earth’s core produce? This heat drives convection, which is ultimately responsible for plate tectonics. Geochemist James Day points out that “it’s about more than just understanding a small piece of the sea floor.” Sciences. Mantle geochemist Jessica Warren adds: “It’s been a dream to get this new material really for decades. We’ll finally see The Wizard of Oz.” (Tab)