New technology reveals details about Earth's mysterious magma.
According to research published in the scientific journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, the mysterious magma is located in the Earth's mantle, the layer just below the crust.
Sputnik Agency The recent study used state-of-the-art computer simulations to better understand the properties and behavior of magma located hundreds of kilometers toward the Earth's core.
Research published in the scientific journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters has discovered that the mysterious magma in the Earth's mantle, the layer just below the crust, is more buoyant and fluid than previous studies had indicated.
"Although previous knowledge was limited, it was believed that these water-rich molten rocks, called hydrated magma, would be denser than the solid rock above them, and thus form vast magma pools at depths close to 400 km," explained James Drewitt, a researcher at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom and one of the authors of the project.
To carry out the tests, the scientists used the British supercomputer ARCHER, which is capable of simulating the extreme conditions of magma at temperatures up to 1.600 ºC and pressure 250 times greater than that of Earth.
"We wanted to determine the properties of hydrated magmas to recreate their behavior, how they flow and where they go after forming in the deep mantle, to provide a more accurate view of the water cycle in the Earth's depths, which is closely linked to Earth's habitability," Drewitt explained.
With the help of a supercomputer, researchers were able to create models of hydrated magma on atomic scales and understand that, because it is more fluid and buoyant, it is able to rise through the mantle towards the Earth's surface.
"By incorporating these findings into global mantle circulation models, we discovered that, on geological timescales, water present in hydrated magmas was transported from the lower and middle mantle to the upper mantle, resulting in a mass of water similar to that found in all of Earth's oceans combined and distributed uniformly throughout Earth's mantle today," Drewitt added.
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