[Rockhounds] Project seeks 4D view of Earth's mantle

[Kreigh Tomaszewski]

Some of the most sophisticated models of the Earth's interior ever
constructed will be produced in a new project led from Cardiff University.

Researchers want to simulate the behaviour of the mantle.

This solid rock layer, which resides between the planet's core and crust,
moves very slowly over time - roughly at the speed that a fingernail grows.

The scientists will investigate its complex pattern of upwellings and
downwellings.

The team hopes its new circulation models will provide fresh insights into
how the mantle has influenced the Earth's surface over hundreds of millions
of years.

"In the same way that the study of DNA has given us a whole new framework
to understand biology, evolution and even this coronavirus we now face - so
I want to look to the interior of the Earth to better understand how our
planet, our single and sole 'spaceship', really works," project leader Prof
Huw Davies told BBC News.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-52701935