Editor TLN
Published:
Jun 2, 2023 05:04 GMT
Geodynamic models designed by supercomputers have successfully captured kimberlite eruptions in Africa, Brazil, Russia and, on a smaller scale, the United States and Canada.
Researchers at the University of Wollongong, Australia, studied the last billion years of Earth’s geological motions to accurately understand the eruptive activity of kimberlite volcanic rocks into the Earth’s mantle.
The importance of this mineral is that its eruptions leave behind a characteristic “deep, carrot-shaped tube” of kimberlitic rock, often containing diamonds.
The new study, which used geodynamic models designed by supercomputers at the National Computing Infrastructure in Canberra, shows that these eruptions are fueled by gigantic “pillars of heat” rooted 2,900 kilometers underground, just above our planet’s core. The results were recently published in the journal Nature Geoscience.
“We calculated the movements of heat upward from the core and found that broad mantle turgors, or ‘heat pillars,’ connect the very deep Earth to the surface,” the study authors wrote in a paper. release. “Our model shows that these pillars supply heat beneath the kimberlites, and they explain most of the kimberlite eruptions of the last 200 million years.”
The model successfully captured kimberlite eruptions in Africa, Brazil, Russia and, on a smaller scale, the United States and Canada. It was also able to predict previously undiscovered such eruptions in East Antarctica and in the Yilgarn craton of Western Australia.
Deciphering Earth’s geological engine not only provides a better understanding of the planet’s distant past, the researchers say, but could also help ensure a future for humanity.
“Understanding the internal history of the Earth can help locate mineral reserves, not only for diamonds, but also for crucial minerals such as nickel and rare earth elements,” they noted.
