Molten rock beneath the Earth’s surface is called magma. It consists of melted minerals, suspended crystals and dissolved gases held under intense pressure. Magma forms in the mantle or lower crust due to high temperatures. Once it breaches the crust ...
Discussion Forum Latest Questions
In some subduction zones, earthquakes occur in two distinct, parallel layers within the sinking plate, separated by 10–20 km. This “Double Benioff Zone” is thought to be caused by the dehydration of minerals and the internal bending stresses of the ...
Earthquakes are most commonly measured on the Richter scale. This is a logarithmic scale used to determine the magnitude of an earthquake, which is the total amount of energy released at the focus. While the Moment Magnitude Scale (Mw) is ...
The Moho is the boundary between the Earth’s crust and the mantle. It was discovered because P-waves traveling through the deeper mantle arrive at distant stations faster than those traveling through the shallower crust. This indicates that the mantle is ...
Seismology, the study of seismic waves, is the most reliable source of information regarding the Earth’s interior. As P and S waves travel through the Earth, they change speed and direction (refract) when they encounter different densities and states of ...