A groundbreaking discovery has revealed potential remnants of Earth’s ancient crust, often referred to as "sunken worlds," deep within the planet's mantle. This astonishing find, detailed in Scientific Reports, is made possible by a new method of mapping Earth's interior, offering new insights into the planet’s geological history and evolution.
The newly discovered anomalies are located in unexpected regions, unlike previously known subducted slabs. Subducted slabs are tectonic plates that descend into the mantle at collision zones, typically near tectonic boundaries. However, these fragments were found far from any known tectonic activity, beneath the western Pacific Ocean. The mystery lies in how these fragments, potentially remnants of Earth’s ancient crust, ended up in these isolated regions of the mantle.
The breakthrough was achieved through high-resolution modelling of the Earth’s interior, utilizing seismic data from earthquake waves. This new approach, known as full-waveform inversion, combines multiple seismographic measurements into a single, highly detailed image of the Earth's interior. This innovative method allows scientists to observe previously hidden features of the planet's geological structure, such as these sunken remnants.
The computational power necessary for this method was provided by the Piz Daint supercomputer at the Swiss National Supercomputer Centre in Lugano, Switzerland. The use of such advanced technology has allowed researchers to map the Earth’s interior with unprecedented precision, uncovering hidden secrets that had long eluded scientists.
This discovery could offer valuable clues about Earth’s formation and evolution, helping scientists understand the planet's past and the dynamic processes that have shaped its geology over billions of years. While the origin of these ancient crust fragments remains a mystery, their existence could help rewrite parts of Earth’s geological history.
