The Earth's Crust is Missing!

[bigalpha]

Scientists have discovered a large area thousands of square kilometres in extent in the middle of the Atlantic where the Earth’s crust appears to be missing. Instead, the mantle - the deep interior of the Earth, normally covered by crust many kilometres thick - is exposed on the seafloor, 3000m below the surface.

LINK HERE

[Phil Winkler]

Boy, if they bring back samples maybe I can buy a new mantle piece for my fireplace.

[bigalpha]

Boy, if they bring back samples maybe I can buy a new mantle piece for my fireplace.

*gurgle/choke*

You owe me a new keyboard.

[Evan G]

Oh boy, the Pun-in-a-tor strikes again. Roll of the eyes

[graveleye]

are they referring to the mid-atlantic rift?

[JoeyS]

Wait a sec., Is the mantle not molten? And once exposed to seawater it instantly cools and solidifies, thus becoming new crust. This seems like an impossibility. No?

[Evan G]

are they referring to the mid-atlantic rift?

No, just a few jingles like: Rhyme of the Ancient Marnier and Davey Jones locker, but the Oscars are on Phil’s Mantel.

Sorry I couldn’t resist.

Seriously, I think your right on the mark. I looked at a approx map of the area they are going to be and the rift is very close.

[RichBCAG]

The mantle is mostly olivine, and the crust is mostly basalt. Or at least that's what they told me in Geology class...

[Teresa]

There are other mantle rocks at the surface. These are within ophiolite sequences, and are olivine rich rocks like perioditite, dunite and eclogite, with lots of garnet, spinel and pyroxenes. Because of the low pressures on the surface, they often decompose fairly fast. Under the ocean, pressures remain high (though not as high) as in the mantle.

What is cool about this 'scab' is that around 1960, there was a proposal to drill through the Mohorovicic discontinuity-- the layer between the crust and mantle.
Now it looks like all you have to do is send a drilling rig right to the site, slide through the water and voila, you are there!

I will be waiting for their results.

[hewhocaves]

ah thank god for the news services and their charming incompetence in scientific matters. after all, if they could even approach accuracy i wouldn't have to spend scads of time trying to track down what the story really was and then how would i spend my day??

this sheds a little more light on it.
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news ... _page.html

heres another version which is shorter than the above one but still hits the main points:

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/35890.html

and this is the expedition site with *gasp* an actual map. somehow that slipped by every major news network


i'm tired. its past my bedtime. i hate differential calculus.

[Teresa]

I like the photo of the study site on the second link, but the first article entitled "Journey to the Earth's Crust" is much more descriptive: just think: expeditionary scientists with ropes and pickaxes crossing an enormous piece of toast.

Must be the Monty Python (or is that Monty Piton) influence.

[hewhocaves]

I like the photo of the study site on the second link, but the first article entitled "Journey to the Earth's Crust" is much more descriptive:

Journey TO the earth's crust?? I believe that's simply a trip to the surface. hang on, let me go do that right now...

...

... back. and i got the mail, too.

[thermopyle]

Reminds me of this gem!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJfBSc6e7QQ