Image of the interior of the Earth

2000/03/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Geologia

Researchers have collected many data on the spread of the waves that cause earthquakes in the last two decades. The waves spread faster or more slowly depending on the composition of the mantle portion they create and traverse the subsoil.

Interpretations of these changes can be very useful to know the evolution of the mantle and the dynamic behavior of the mantle, as well as to predict the possible responses of changes in the mantle on the terrestrial surface. A geologist at the University of Michigan explains the velocity changes of waves using a thermal model, although it is also known that the chemical composition and physical structure of mantle minerals influence waves.

Models show that phase transitions in the mantle, thus called variations in the crystalline structure of minerals as a result of high pressures and indoor temperatures, can accelerate or sharply cushion the movement of surface plates.

Moreover, when these speed changes become temperature through the model, it has been observed that in some regions of the mantle there are temperatures that can cause the fusion of local minerals. This phenomenon, for example, occurs in the lower part of the eastern fault of Africa and may be the fusion of minerals the cause of volcanic activity in this area.