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Geodynamics refers to the processes by which mantle convection shapes and reshapes the Earth and other rocky planets. Its study includes plate tectonics, volcanism, the chemistry of lava and volcanic rocks, gravity and geomagnetic anomalies as well as seismic investigations into the structure of the mantle.
In a part of the Apennines, where the Earth’s crust is thin and heat flow is high, production of CO2 from deep below the mountains dominates over near-surface weathering processes that consume this greenhouse gas. Ultimately, the magnitude of deep CO2 release tips the balance towards a landscape that is a net carbon emitter.
HIMU-type seamounts may be subducted elsewhere beneath the Mariana arc, but obvious HIMU-type components appear only in the initial stages of arc rifting due to the low melting degree and being consumed during the process of back-arc spreading.
Intermediate-depth intra-slab earthquakes can be generated in the regions of subducted slabs affected by transient stress increases, according to 2-D thermomechanical modeling of bending plates at subduction zones.
A correlation between seismic tomography-derived upper mantle low-density bodies and crustal earthquake clusters in west-central Europe suggests mantle buoyancy forces may be a factor controlling the distribution of intracontinental seismicity
The lithospheric structure controls crustal deformation in the western US. Particularly, its abrupt thickness change along the eastern boundary of the Basin and Range leads to enhanced lithosphere-asthenosphere interaction and localized earthquakes.
Since the Jurassic, East European basins have likely been situated over a weakening mantle upwelling, which heated the basins and created suitable conditions for hydrocarbon maturation, according to geodata combined with modelling.
The geological histories of Archaean regions indicate that stabilization of the Earth’s continents and the formation of cratons was driven by continental emergence and subaerial weathering.
Hydrous minerals within the Earth affect volatile cycling and mantle geodynamics. Jun Tsuchiya explains how stable phases of these minerals are being uncovered at increasingly high pressures.
In a part of the Apennines, where the Earth’s crust is thin and heat flow is high, production of CO2 from deep below the mountains dominates over near-surface weathering processes that consume this greenhouse gas. Ultimately, the magnitude of deep CO2 release tips the balance towards a landscape that is a net carbon emitter.
Nature Geoscience spoke with Samantha Hansen, a geophysicist at the University of Alabama and Sebastian Rost, a global seismologist at the University of Leeds about the ultralow velocity zones in the lowermost mantle.
Advances in seismological observational and modelling techniques are needed to constrain complex lowermost mantle structures and understand their influence on the global dynamics and evolution of Earth’s interior.
The Moon’s primordial solidification is believed to have produced a layer of dense ilmenite cumulates beneath the crust. Remnants of this layer have now been detected under the lunar nearside.