The deepest hole ever drilled was the Kola Superdeep Borehole in Russia at around 7.5 miles deep between 1970 and 1994. At only one-third of the distance through the crust, equipment limits and funding constraints halted further progress. Scientific endeavors today rely on increasingly precise seismology to map Earth's internal structure and magnetic field. New findings by Dr. Andy Biggin and collaborators at the University of Liverpool, published in Nature Geoscience, suggest the presence of two large, hot rocky masses under Earth's mantle that could have significantly influenced changes in our magnetic field and the evolution of continents.
Join us this week as Mike reviews discoveries in paleogeomagnetics.
If you have questions you would like answered on Astro Brief, email them to Dr. Mike Reed at mikereed@missouristate.edu.
Astro Brief is a collaboration between KSMU, the Missouri Space Grant, and MSU's Department of Physics, Astronomy and Materials Science. Hosted by Dr. Mike Reed, Astro Brief focuses on astronomical events, the field of astronomy, and astronomy-related guests. It airs Thursdays at 9:45 am on KSMU.