Scientists uncover relationship between lavas erupting on sea floor and deep-carbon cycle
Scientists from the Smithsonian and the University of Rhode Island have found unsuspected linkages between the oxidation state of iron in volcanic rocks and variations in the chemistry of the deep Earth. Not only do the trends run counter to predictions from recent decades of study, they belie a role for carbon circulating in the deep Earth. The team's research was published May 2 in Science Express.
Elizabeth Cottrell, lead author and research geologist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, and Katherine Kelley at the University of Rhode Island's Graduate ...