A stiff new layer in Earth’s mantle: Why the planet’s conveyor belt hangs up 930 miles deep

phys.org

By crushing minerals between diamonds, a University of Utah study suggests the existence of an unknown layer inside Earth: part of the lower mantle where the rock gets three times stiffer. The discovery may explain a mystery: why slabs of Earth’s sinking tectonic plates sometimes stall and thicken 930 miles underground.

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