Earth's deep water cycle needs revision, geophysicists claim
Monday, October 18, 2010 - 13:32
in Earth & Climate
A popular view among geophysicists is that large amounts of water are carried from the oceans to the deep mantle in subduction zones -- boundaries where the Earth's crustal plates converge, with one plate riding over the other. But now a group of geophysicists present results that contradict this view. They compare seismic and experimental evidence to argue that subducting slabs do not carry water deeper than about 400 kilometers.