Did Earth’s Mantle Shape Its Surface Topography? To understand

In a study published in the scientific journal Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, a group of researchers He used different data to understand the influence of the Earth’s mantle on the topography of the Earth’s surface. To do this, they needed to mine data such as global measurements of the thickness of the Earth’s crust and the speed at which seismic waves travel around the world.

After analyzing the collected information, scientists noticed some differences in the temperature and chemistry of the mantle. In addition to being responsible for the formation of topography and other unique features, The data also shows that sea waves appear in regions where the mantle has warmer temperatures.

Researchers state that they have created two new databases to understand how the mantle affects topography. One of these brings together more than 26 thousand crustal thickness and seismic velocity measurements collected across the planet; the other compiles information such as temperature, density, pressure, among others. After analysis, Scientists have detected some mantle effects on Earth’s topography.

“Continental topography is predominantly controlled by a combination of changes in the thickness and density of the crust. However, it is clear that some additional topographic components are supported by the buoyancy structure of the lithospheric mantle and the underlying convection. Isolation of these secondary sources cannot be simple but provides valuable information on mantle dynamics.” Here we estimate and correct for the topographic uplift component supported by the crust to obtain residual topographic anomalies for major continents except Antarctica.”

Earth’s mantle and topography

conclusion point Differences in the temperature and chemical structure of the Earth’s mantle can affect the edges of tectonic plates. These differences create basins with depths exceeding 1.5 kilometers in these regions, as well as waves with heights of up to 2 kilometers in the hottest regions.

It is important to emphasize that These topographic formations can take millions of years to fully develop. For scientists, the paper could help explain the presence of magmatism discovered in areas along the boundaries of tectonic plates.

In any case, the study shows how important this process is for the formation of the Earth, and that it happens not only with the movement of tectonic plates, but with different features. However, scientists will continue to study the issue to further detail the internal processes of our planet.

“We now infer that a significant component of the topography is produced and maintained by a combination of lithospheric thickness variation and lower-plate mantle convection. Lithospheric composition may play an important secondary role, especially in cratonic regions,” the paper concludes.

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