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The New Daily
The New Daily
The Conversation

Volcanoes, diamonds, and blobs: History shows Earth’s interior is more mobile than we thought

How did the blobs originate? What exactly are they made of? We still don't know. Photo: PNAS

Deep in the Earth beneath us lie two blobs the size of continents. One is under Africa, the other under the Pacific Ocean.

The blobs have their roots 2900km below the surface, almost halfway to the centre of the Earth. They are thought to be the birthplace of rising columns of hot rock called “deep mantle plumes” that reach Earth’s surface.

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