Dantheman62
01-08-2009, 10:37 PM
A team of scientists will embark on a voyage next week to study an “open wound” on the Atlantic seafloor where the Earth’s deep interior lies exposed without any crust covering.
The lesion is located mid-way between the Cape Verdes Islands and the Caribbean in the Atlantic Ocean (http://www.livescience.com/oceans/) [image (http://www.livescience.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?pic=070228_crust_depth_02.jpg&cap=A+map+showing+the+average+crust+thickness+on+t he+Earth.+Continental+crust+is+thicker+than+oceani c+crust.+The+red+dot+marks+the+location+of+the+exp osed+)]. It lies nearly 2 miles beneath the ocean surface and extends over thousands of square kilometers.
“It’s quite a substantial area,” said Chris MacLeod, a marine geologist at Cardiff University in the UK, who will be part of the expedition.
What's Down Therehttp://www.livescience.com/images/generic_earth_layers_03.gifThe Earth’s radius is about 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers). The main layers of its interior are in descending order: crust (http://www.livescience.com/technology/050407_earth_drill.html), mantle (http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/060517_inside_earth.html) and core (http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/050414_earth_core.html).
The crust thickness averages about 18 miles (30 kilometers) under the continents, but is only about 3 miles (5 kilometers) under the oceans. It is light and brittle and can break. In fact it's fractured into more than a dozen major plates and several minor ones. It is where most earthquakes originate.
The mantle is more flexible – it flows instead of fractures. It extends down to about 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometers) below the surface.
The core consists of a solid inner core and a fluid outer core. The fluid contains iron, which, as it moves (http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/050825_earthcore.html), generates the Earth’s magnetic field. The crust and upper mantle form the lithosphere, which is broken up into several plates that float on top of the hot molten mantle below.
The lesion is located mid-way between the Cape Verdes Islands and the Caribbean in the Atlantic Ocean (http://www.livescience.com/oceans/) [image (http://www.livescience.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?pic=070228_crust_depth_02.jpg&cap=A+map+showing+the+average+crust+thickness+on+t he+Earth.+Continental+crust+is+thicker+than+oceani c+crust.+The+red+dot+marks+the+location+of+the+exp osed+)]. It lies nearly 2 miles beneath the ocean surface and extends over thousands of square kilometers.
“It’s quite a substantial area,” said Chris MacLeod, a marine geologist at Cardiff University in the UK, who will be part of the expedition.
What's Down Therehttp://www.livescience.com/images/generic_earth_layers_03.gifThe Earth’s radius is about 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers). The main layers of its interior are in descending order: crust (http://www.livescience.com/technology/050407_earth_drill.html), mantle (http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/060517_inside_earth.html) and core (http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/050414_earth_core.html).
The crust thickness averages about 18 miles (30 kilometers) under the continents, but is only about 3 miles (5 kilometers) under the oceans. It is light and brittle and can break. In fact it's fractured into more than a dozen major plates and several minor ones. It is where most earthquakes originate.
The mantle is more flexible – it flows instead of fractures. It extends down to about 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometers) below the surface.
The core consists of a solid inner core and a fluid outer core. The fluid contains iron, which, as it moves (http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/050825_earthcore.html), generates the Earth’s magnetic field. The crust and upper mantle form the lithosphere, which is broken up into several plates that float on top of the hot molten mantle below.