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Journey to the center of the earth: Discovery sheds light on mantle formation
Date:4/11/2008

We cant exaggerate how important these rocks are theyre a window into that deep part of the Earth.

Venturing out aboard a 400-foot-long research icebreaker, Snow and his team sifted through thousands of pounds of rocks scooped up from the ocean floor by the ships dredging device. The samples were labeled and cataloged and then cut into slices thinner than a human hair to be examined under a microscope. That is when Snow realized he found something that, for many geologists, is as rare and fascinating as moon rocks mantle rocks devoid of sea floor alteration. Analysis of the isotopes of osmium, a noble metal rarer than platinum within the mantle rocks, indicated they were two billion years old. The use of osmium isotopes underscores the significance of the results, because using them for this type of analysis is still a new, innovative and difficult technique.

Since the mantle is slowly moving and churning within the Earth, geologists believe the mantle is a layer of well-mixed rock. Fresh mantle rock wells up at mid-ocean ridges to create new crust. As the tectonic plates move, this crust slowly makes its way to a subduction zone, a plate boundary where one plate slides underneath another and the crust is pushed back into the mantle from which it came.

Because this process takes about 200 million years, it was surprising to find rocks that had not been remixed inside the mantle for two billion years. The discovery of the rocks suggests the mantle is not as well-mixed or homogenous as geologists previously believed, revealing that the Earths mantle preserves an older and more complex geologic history than previously thought. This opens the possibility of exploring early events on Earth through the study of ancient rocks preserved within the Earths mantle.

The rocks were found during two expeditions Snow and his team made to the Arctic, each lasting about two months. The voyages were undertaken while Snow was a
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Contact: Lisa Merkl
lkmerkl@uh.edu
713-743-8192
University of Houston
Source:Eurekalert  

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