GMPV
Geochemistry, Mineralogy, Petrology & Volcanology

continental crust

Drilling in the deep: Project Mohole and the underground space race

The drilling derrick on DV Chikyu

The mantle makes up the bulk of Earth, extending from near the surface to the edge of the core 2900 km down. It constitutes 84% of Earth’s volume and has roughly 6 times the mass of Mars! Despite its impressive bulk, the mantle is almost everywhere covered by several km of crust. As a result we don’t have a lot of pieces of it that we can look at, hold or study. Those we have (e.g. xenoliths ...[Read More]