Deepest samples from Earth’s mantle
Deepest samples from Earth’s mantle have been recovered from an almost uninterrupted 1,268m core from a region where Earth’s mantle, the thick, interior layer that makes up more than 80% of the planet’s bulk, has pushed up through the Earth’s crust. The oceanic crust is an ideal place to puncture, because it’s much thinner and younger in places than the crust on dry land, thanks to the movements of tectonic plates. But a follow-up study might be a long time coming: the United States is retiring JOIDES Resolution, the workhorse research ship that scientists used to do the work.
Nature | 5 min read
Reference: Science paper