Rock in Earth's mantle flows like hot metal, and moves fastest under the edges of tectonic plates. Recent work from CNRS in France finds that adding stochasticity into models of mantle rock movement helps capture this flow rate variability to produce more realistic models of plate tectonics.

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#MantleDynamics #PlateTectonics #Geophysics

🌍 UC Riverside scientists have developed a method to identify where major earthquakes are most likely to occur by measuring stress buildup along faults, enhancing disaster preparedness.

📍 A recent test validated this approach by pinpointing the exact section of Russia's Kamchatka subduction zone where a massive earthquake later happened.

🔬 Led by geophysicists Gareth Funning and Axel Periollat, the technique uses GPS data to find locked sections of faults that store energy, focusing on subduction zones where the largest earthquakes originate.

🌐 The method is now being applied to other major subduction zones in Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, and the Pacific Northwest, with potential applications for California faults like the Hayward Fault.

#EarthquakeScience #Geophysics #DisasterPrep

A 17-year seismic study found North Korea’s underground nuclear tests reactivated previously quiet faults beneath Mount Mantap, triggering 1,399 local earthquakes whose activity continued to increase for years after the final nuclear test in 2017.

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#Geophysics #SeismicActivity #NuclearTests

Something deep inside Earth keeps messing with the length of our days: « One Earth day rarely adds up to exactly 24 hours. Scientists found one (of many) reasons why. »

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#EarthRotation #LengthOfDay #Geophysics

🌍 A new study published in Nature suggests that changes in Earth's rotation over several decades originate from deep within the planet, driven by three competing mechanisms: gravitational, electromagnetic, and topographic coupling.

🌍 Gravitational coupling, a gravity "torque" between Earth's inner core and mantle, is the primary influence on these multidecadal rotational changes, with the other two mechanisms acting as buffers.

🌍 This research offers a more coherent picture of Earth's deep interior and provides constraints on its properties, explaining why the length of a day has subtly changed by milliseconds between the early 1970s and 2021.

#EarthScience #Geophysics #SpaceNews

Researchers traced decades long wobbles in day length to gravity pulling between the spinning inner core and the mantle above it, not magnetism as long assumed.

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#EarthScience #Geophysics #PlanetaryWuls