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.
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Briefing note: 05/10
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