Despite decades of research, scientists remain divided over many of the processes that take place beneath the surface of our planet, including details of the formation of molten metals in the Earth's core that creates the magnetic field that protects the planet from deadly solar radiation.
|Blobs of Matter Hidden Under Africa.|
Massive formations of incredibly hot molten rock under AfricaTwo huge, incredibly hot molten rock formations the size of continents lurk beneath the Earth's surface, one of which lies beneath Africa and the other beneath the Pacific Ocean.
Now, for the first time, Quanta Magazine has created an accurate 3D model of the formations, located in the area where the Earth's molten iron core meets its inferior mantle of rock, showing the formations as they seem to be leaking outward and upward into the crust.
According to Quanta, the highest points of these formations can reach over 100 times that of Mount Everest, which with its height of 8,848 meters above sea level is the highest mountain on Earth.
The model provides an important visual cue that challenges the common view of the Earth that could be found in a scientific textbook, showing geometrically clean and spherical spheres of matter from the solid inner core, the liquid outer core, the lower and upper mantle and, finally, the crust.
Geologists do not yet know exactly what the blobs are and what their role in regulating Earth's processes may be.
Since their discovery in the latter part of the 20th century, it has been speculated that they could only be clusters of hot plumes - i.e. the theory of the convection of super-hot rock formations within the mantle which has been proposed as one of the causes of volcanic hotspots.
Another theory suggests that blobs are a distinct component of the Earth's internal geography, consisting of "thermochemical piles" of dense rocks with a distinct chemical composition, and that they are warmer than the rest of the mantle.
The second theory proposes that these materials are actually as old as the Earth itself, and unique in their appearance, making it impossible to find them anywhere else on the planet.
A third theory says that the formations could actually be the remains of an enormous ancient planet known as 'Theia', which is assumed to have crashed on Earth and got stuck inside the planet after crashing into it about 4.5 billion years ago.
|Matter hidden under africa.|
It is believed that this event caused the creation of our Moon, say the scientists who support this theory.
Mysteries of the coreThe inability of scientists to reach consensus on a number of geological processes that occur below the Earth's crust has led to concern about how far humanity is able to predict events that can drastically affect our planet.
Last year, for example, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the British Geological Survey were forced to update the World Magnetic Model twice in one year, as the magnetic North Pole was determined to move from the Canadian Arctic to Russian Siberia at an accelerated rate.
Scientists are unsure of the precise nature of the churning process of molten metals in the Earth's core, which produces the enormous electric currents to produce the magnetic field.
At the same time, academics have expressed concerns about the possible impact of magnetic north pole fluctuations on the overall strength of the magnetic field that protects the planet from harmful solar radiation.
If the field were to disappear one day, the Earth could quickly fade away from life, defenseless in the face of the powerful solar flares emitted by our Sun.
And if you somehow brought them to the surface, God forbid, they contain enough material to cover the entire globe in a lava lake roughly 100 kilometres deep, Quanta contributor Joshua Sokol warns.