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Massive 'Lava Lamp' Blobs Deep Inside Earth Have Scientists Puzzled
- Two continent-size blobs of hot — and possibly molten — rock can be found deep underground, about halfway to the center of the Earth, according to a new study.
- These curious structures — each of which is so large that it would be 100 times taller than Mount Everest — could be made up of materials that may shed light on how the Earth formed, the researchers said.
- One of the blobs is located beneath the Pacific Ocean, and the other can be found beneath the Atlantic.
- These underground structures start where the Earth's mantle meets the core, but they send "plumes" up through the rock like a Lava Lamp, the researchers said.
- The Lava Lamp comparison is appropriate — except when this Lava Lamp blob reaches the top, it spills or explodes out of the Earth's surface, professor Edward Garnero said.
- If an especially large "superplume" of magma from one of these blobs were to make it to the surface, it would result in "massive eruptions where the lava will come out for millions of years at a time".
- There isn't much cause for alarm, though. "The next one could be on its way," he said, "but it could be a million years away."
