Scientists penetrate fossil magma chamber beneath intact ocean crust

Pacific Ocean, approximately 800 km west of Costa Rica—An international team of scientists aboard the research drilling ship JOIDES Resolution has—for the first time—recovered black rocks known as gabbros from intact ocean crust. Supported by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP), the scientists drilled through the volcanic rock that forms the Earth’s crust to reach a fossil magma chamber lying 1.4 kilometers beneath the seafloor.

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All News summaries for April 20, 2006