![](\"https:\/\/cdni.rt.com\/files\/2018.10\/thumbnail\/5bba3427fc7e93e6728b45cf.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Scientists have diagnosed the Earth with a bizarre geological condition known as \u2018stagnant slabs\u2019, meaning tectonic rocks subducted into the fiery hot mantle mysteriously become wedged hundreds of miles below the surface.<\/p>\n
But researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder believe they have discovered the reason for what appears to be a glitch in the Earth\u2019s internal mechanism.<\/p>\n
READ MORE:\u00a0\u2018Most valuable specimen I have ever held\u2019: Doorstop rock confirmed as $100k meteorite (VIDEO)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Using computer simulations of seismic activities under the Pacific Ocean scientists found that slabs of rocky tectonic plates may be temporarily obstructed from falling into seamlessly into the subduction, melting and convection current routine of the Earth\u2019s mantle by a \u201cthin, weak\u201d<\/em> layer of material.<\/p>\n The hypothesis comes from researchers Wei Mao and Shijie Zhong, whose study is now published in the Nature journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n The presence of stagnant slabs has intrigued scientists for years and now the latest study on the subject states that a \u201csliding\u201d horizontal motion of subducted plates below the Pacific ocean has been observed between the boundary of the upper and lower mantle.<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough we see these slabs stagnate, they are a fairly recent phenomena, probably happening in the last 20 million years,\u201d<\/em> Zhong said<\/a>. \u201cThe slabs get deflected and can keep going for a long distance horizontally.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n READ MORE:\u00a0Ice to see you: NASA blasts Antarctic with satellite laser to keep tabs on climate change (VIDEOS)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The existence of rocks moving slower than normal into the mantle is unlikely to cause great concern. However, it could have some impact on the way we study volcanoes, earthquakes and other seismic activities associated with the Earth\u2019s tectonic makeup.<\/p>\n It\u2019s almost as if a kink has been discovered in the planet\u2019s so-called \u201cengine\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cYou can think of this mantle convection as a big engine that drives all of what we see on Earth\u2019s surface: earthquakes, mountain building, plate tectonics, volcanoes and even Earth\u2019s magnetic field,\u201d<\/em> Zhong added.<\/p>\n The study co-author said he suspects that, over a long enough period, the troublesome slabs will break through the mantle to continue their drop into the Earth\u2019s core.<\/p>\n Like this story? Share it with a friend!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Via RT<\/a>. This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News<\/a> with permission or license.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Scientists have diagnosed the Earth with a bizarre geological condition known as \u2018stagnant slabs\u2019, meaning tectonic rocks subducted into the fiery hot mantle mysteriously become wedged hundreds of miles below the surface. But researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder believe they have discovered the reason for what appears to be a glitch in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":380040,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[519],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-380039","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-newswire"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}