The discovery of mysterious points the size of a continent in the interior of the Earth pushes scientists towards different hypotheses!
For the first time, scientists have been able to glimpse mysterious spots that have left geologists baffled for decades. These objects are known as the ultra-low velocity zone.
As it turns out, these points are confined within the Earth's crust about 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) below the surface. Officially known as the LLSVPS, these points are huge, each the size of a continent, and 100 times longer than Mount Everest, until recently, scientists knew why very little about these points, they exist, and why they have strange shapes of varying heights .
At such depths, researchers have had a hard time studying these objects, only they are aware of their existence because of the way the seismic waves that pass through them are slowed down.
So far, images of these points or objects have been difficult and limiting to study, but the new study provides the clearest picture of one of those points to date.
Lead author Zi Li, a doctoral student in the University of Cambridge's Department of Earth Sciences, said: "Of all the Earth's deep interior features, these are the most fascinating and complex.
Mr. Lee and his team used state-of-the-art computer result technology to produce the image of these points, using high-frequency signals to record seismic waves that passed through these points.
Via the kilometer scale, these signals gave the researchers a look at the dots, enabling an image to be formed with much better accuracy than it had previously.
According to co-author Dr Kongdae Ling who developed the methods while at Oxford: We are really pushing the boundaries of modern high-performance computing for flexible dynamic simulation, taking advantage of wave symmetries unnoticed or used before.
The researchers observed that seismic waves slowed by 40 percent as they crossed the base of this low-velocity zone under Hawaii. This supports current suggestions that the region contains much more iron than surrounding rock, meaning it is much denser and slower.
Dr San Cottar, project leader from the University of Cambridge Geosciences, said: 'It is possible that this iron-rich material is from ancient rock remnants from Earth's history or even that iron leaked from the Earth's core in unknown ways and means.
Sujoi Mukhopadiye at the University of California, Davis highlighted the importance of understanding these masses. If these things are really ancient, he said, they tell us something about how our planet was formed.
Another study earlier this month suggested that some of the massive blobs could be leftovers from a cosmic collision.
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