Minerals go 'dark' near Earth's core

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The deep Earth mineral magnesiowstite can transmit infrared radiation at normal atmospheric pressures but loses this ability when squashed to over a half million times the pressure at sea level.
The deep Earth mineral magnesiowüstite can transmit infrared radiation at normal atmospheric pressures, but loses this ability when squashed to over a half million times the pressure at sea level.

Minerals crunched by intense pressure near the Earth's core lose much of their ability to conduct infrared light, according to a new study from the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory. Since infrared light contributes to the flow of heat, the result challenges some long-held notions about heat transfer in the lower mantle, the layer of molten rock that surrounds the Earth's solid core. The work could aid the study of mantle plumes--large columns of hot upwelling magma believed to produce features such as the Hawaiian Islands and Iceland.


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