mantel bumi hilang? bumi hollow la tu?

chiKenliTeL · Post time 7-3-2007 09:57 PM

Part of Earth`s mantle cover is missing

Mar 6, 2007, 15:00 GMT

CARDIFF, Wales (UPI) -- Welsh scientists are investigating a startling discovery in the Atlantic Ocean: Part of the Earth`s mantle cover is missing.

Cardiff University scientists discovered an area extending thousands of square miles in the middle of the Atlantic in which the Earth`s mantle -- the deep interior of the Earth, normally covered by crust many miles thick -- is exposed on the sea floor, nearly 10,000 feet below the surface.

Marine geologist Chris MacLeod of the university`s School of Earth, Ocean and Planetary Sciences said: 'This discovery is like an open wound on the surface of the Earth. Was the crust never there? Was it once there but then torn away on huge geological faults? If so, then how and why?'

The team intends to use sonar to image the sea floor in the area midway between the Cape Verde Islands and the Caribbean and take core samples.

Progress of the cruise can be monitored via a live web link to the ship at noc.soton.ac.uk/gg/classroom@sea/JC007/.

The public, and especially school children, are encouraged to ask questions of the expedition`s scientists by using the on-line e-mail link.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International