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Use of sound wave seismography data to study how ocean crust forms.

Use of sound wave seismography data to study how ocean crust forms.
Use of sound wave seismography data to study how ocean crust forms.
Use of sound wave seismography data to study how ocean crust forms.
Use of sound wave seismography data to study how ocean crust forms.
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432171
Renier, Natalie
Use of sound wave seismography data to study how ocean crust forms.
Illustration
05/09/2008
18G0026_HannahMark.jpeg
Caption from Oceanus magazine, Vol. 53, No. 2, pg. 62:
To probe the seafloor, scientists send sound waves down through the ocean and seafloor and record reflected echoes with ocean bottom seismographs and hydrophones trailing behind a ship. Using sound wave data, scientists could detect that olivine rock crystals in Earths mantle begin to align horizontally as magma at mid-ocean ridges rises, cools to create new crust, and spreads outward. This crystalline structure offers a more detailed picture of how ocean crust forms and how Earths tectonic plates move.
Image Of the Day caption:
To probe the seafloor, scientists send sound waves down through the ocean and seafloor and record reflected echoes with ocean bottom seismographs and hydrophones trailing behind a ship. The time it takes for the sound to return allows scientists to determine the composition and structure of the material the sound wave travels through. Hannah Mark, a graduate student in the MIT-WHOI Joint Program, used sound wave data to detect the olivine crystalline structure of rocks in Earth's mantle as magma at mid-ocean ridges rises. The research offers a more detailed picture of how ocean crust forms and how Earths tectonic plates move.
Illustration by Natalie Renier
© Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
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