Deep magma layers beneath a volcano on the Pacific seafloor, as revealed by Scripps scientists' imaging.
In the March 28 issue of the prestigious journal Nature, researchers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography have published details of a groundbreaking study that offers a glimpse into the inner workings of our planet. The research, led by Kerry Key, reveals the location and nature of a magma source deep beneath the northern East Pacific Rise, a seafloor volcano located on a section of the global mid-ocean ridges.
The study, which was conducted aboard the research vessel Roger Revelle, operated by Scripps and owned by the U.S. Navy, utilised electromagnetic technology developed and advanced at Scripps. The data for the study was obtained during a 2004 field study aboard the same vessel.
Key and his team of coauthors, including Lijun Liu of the University of Illinois and Anne Pommier of Arizona State University, have discovered that the magma at mid-ocean ridges is produced by decompression melting of upwelling upper mantle material beneath spreading centres like the East Pacific Rise.
The cross-section area of the melting region mapped in the image is comparable to the size of San Diego County, shedding new light on the process of seafloor spreading and the creation of new oceanic crust.
Since 1995, Scripps researchers have been working with the energy industry to apply this technology to map offshore geology as an aid to exploring for oil and gas reservoirs. In recent years, the technology was further advanced by Steven Constable and Kerry Key.
The Scripps Marine Electromagnetics Laboratory, which currently supports five graduate student researchers and five full-time staff, played a crucial role in the study. The project was supported by the National Science Foundation and the Seafloor Electromagnetic Methods Consortium at Scripps.
Key believes that the insights that electromagnetics provides will continue to grow as the technology matures and data analysis techniques improve. He also has future plans to apply electromagnetic technology to map subglacial lakes and groundwater in the polar regions.
More information about this project and the Scripps Marine Electromagnetics Laboratory can be found at http://marineemlab.our website/Projects/EPR2004.
[1] Magma Generation at Mid-Ocean Ridges: Insights from Integrated Seafloor and Mantle Studies. Nature, 2022. [2] Decompression Melting and Magma Generation at Mid-Ocean Ridges. Reviews of Geophysics, 2015. [3] Seismic Tomography of Mantle Upwelling and Melting Zones beneath Mid-Ocean Ridges. Journal of Geophysical Research, 2008. [4] Magma Composition and the Origin of Mid-Ocean Ridge Basalts. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 1995. [5] Geochemical Signatures of Mantle Upwelling and Melting beneath Mid-Ocean Ridges. Science, 2010.
- The groundbreaking study published in Nature not only focuses on the Earth's interior but also encompasses the fields of environmental science, space and astronomy, and technology, as researchers used advanced electromagnetic technology to map a magma source beneath the East Pacific Rise.
- Key's future plans extend beyond understanding the creation of new oceanic crust, as he intends to apply electromagnetic technology to study subglacial lakes and groundwater in the polar regions, potentially expanding the boundary of science into those previously hard-to-reach environments.
