Earth's oldest mantle discovered
13 August 2010
Scientists have found rocks formed from what they think may be Earth's oldest mantle reservoir - a 4·5 billion year-old remnant of the primordial material that made up the planet not long after it condensed out of clouds of space dust.
The discovery, published this week in Nature, has important implications for our understanding of the Earth's early history. It suggests Earth's mantle may not be as well mixed as previously thought.
"This is such an exciting discovery, because this mantle reservoir could well be parental to all of the mantle reservoirs we recognise today in volcanic rocks around the world," says Dr Pamela Kempton, one of the paper's authors who analysed some of the rock samples while at the NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory in Keyworth. She has since moved to become Head of Research at the Natural Environment Research Council.
The full story is featured in Planet Earth Online 
.
The paper 'Evidence for the survival of the oldest terrestrial mantle reservoir' : Matthew G. Jackson,Richard W. Carlson,Mark D. Kurz,Pamela D. Kempton,Don Francis and Jerzy Blusztajn is published in the journal Nature.
Further information
NERC Press Office
Natural Environment Research Council
Polaris House, North Star Avenue
Swindon, SN2 1EU
Tel: 01793 411727 or 411561
Mob: 07917 086369 or 557215
Briefing note: 05/10
External links
Press links
Recent press news
- Huge pool of Arctic fresh water could cool Europe
- New Year Honours
- Violent storms provide testing conditions for research scientists
- Win for young entrepreneurs
- Queen's Award for world leading research unit
- British butterfly is evolving to respond to climate change
- NERC appoints new Chief Executive
- Frog trade link to killer fungus revealed
- Climate shifts could leave some species homeless, new research shows
- Research Centre highlighted as leading UK institute for ecology