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Earth Science

'Dark Magma' Could Explain Mystery Volcanoes 77

Posted by Soulskill from the i-prefer-the-term-stealth-magma dept.
sciencehabit writes: The magma fueling the volcanoes of Hawaii and Yellowstone National Park pipes up from deep inside the planet. Scientists have struggled to understand why there are hot spots there, so far from the grinding tectonic plate boundaries at which volcanoes normally appear. New research chalks the mystery up to 'dark magma': deep underground pockets of red-hot molten rock that siphon energy from Earth's core. If the team is right, its work could illuminate a key part of Earth's geology. These plumes are one of the most important things to understand because the movement of heat powers many processes on the planet. For one, Earth's magnetic field depends on how the core spins and flows inside the planet. As a result, the way heat flows from the core to the mantle could potentially affect the way Earth's magnetic field evolves over time.
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'Dark Magma' Could Explain Mystery Volcanoes More

'Dark Magma' Could Explain Mystery Volcanoes

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  • really? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by uslurper ( 459546 ) on Tuesday November 11, 2014 @06:29PM (#48364221)

    "Dark Magma" -really? no i didnt read tfa but "Dark Magma"!?

    Dont you think the term "Dark ???" is being overused now?
    Hey! theres something we dont know what it is.. lets call it "Dark... Meatcake!"

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      I suspect "dark moderation" is why you're only at +1 right now.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        In years past, this comment would have been +5 funny.

        With -1 moderation on posts like this, Slashdot isn't worth reading anymore.

    • really? (Score:4, Funny)

      by theronb ( 1170573 ) on Tuesday November 11, 2014 @07:17PM (#48364555)
      So I think that weight I put on over last winter is dark fat - I don't where it came from.

    • Dark Onion going on here?

  • naming things (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    please stop calling things we have yet to understand "dark".

    • "Dark matter" and "dark energy" at least make some intuitive sense - we've postulated they exist, but have been unable to observe them. But, yeah, "dark magma"? We can see the magma just fine, and we know exactly where these hot spots are - we just don't completely understand why.

      I guess next time I see a friend somewhere unexpected, I should refer to him as my "dark buddy".

  • As a geologist, in school I always postulated that hot spots were a function of the magnetic field. Rotation resistance provides the field but the field 'channels' a portion of the mantle. Tit for tat.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mbone ( 558574 )

      Doesn't the field move around too fast for it to be tightly coupled to the mantle? For example, look at the motion of the magnetic poles - surely hot spots in the mantle are not moving 50 km / year.

    • For myself, I'm more partial to the De Meijer idea that calcium bergs in the mantle collect uranium; I would posit that a collection of such calcium bergs might make enough of a reactor to power Hawaii or iceland.

      Or, for that matter, a plume under the Scotia Plate / African Karoo (at least until a large, shallow asteroid struck one of the collection, driving it to the center, it in the Permian).

      Maybe another under the Carribean Plate â"Hudson bay, until the shock waves from the first super-critical exp

    • The earth's magnetic field isn't even remotely strong enough to channel a couple of millions tons of magma.

  • This author has dark intellegence (Score:3)

    by trout007 ( 975317 ) on Tuesday November 11, 2014 @06:35PM (#48364279)

    because it sure didn't show up in this article.

  • Branding (Score:3)

    by mbone ( 558574 ) on Tuesday November 11, 2014 @06:36PM (#48364291)

    As someone who works in Dark Matter, I have to say I am glad that the brand has now reached the point that scientists in other fields appropriate it, apparently purely as a branding mechanism. I mean, I hate to be pedantic, but magma at 3200 C will not be dark.

  • Umm yeah ... until either a proven ... they are both lovely fantasies.
  • Could Dark Magma be responsible for global warming?
  • I wonder if they can apply this to why New Madrid Missouri had one of the biggest recorded earthquakes in US history while not being very near any fault line.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Um, New Madrid is on/near a fault. It has the cryptic name "New Madrid Fault."

  • Ubehebe Crater is located in Death Valley, California. You-Bee-Hee-Bee. There is a place to view the crater from above the rim, really impressive. Death Valley attracts visitors from around the world and I met many travelers at the Stovepipe Wells General Store and at the Texas Spring camp. .
  • Dark Magma? Really? They couldn't have come up with a more original term than to rip off the physicist's term for "we don't know what the fuck it is"?

  • Obviously they've finally found the cause of global warming! And it is all man kind's fault right to the core! Specifically the fault of the White Male [Republican | Democrat] majority!

    Glad to get that all cleared up. Now we can go back to blowing our top and spouting nonsense like normal Vulcans.

  • "Mystery Magma" would have been my first choice, but after reading the article... seems like a much better choice would have been "Deep Magma"... Dark Magma makes zero sense and is just dumb. Someone needs to get kicked in the arse for thinking this was a good term.

  • What does the name matter? It's arbitrary. Focus on the theory.

    It's like looking only at Jesus's finger, when he's pointing at the moon.

  • So thats why Anakin/Vader didn't get all burned to a crisp at the end of Ep 3 - it was dark magma

  • These plumes are one of the most important things to understand

    Not really. We are still at the mercy of Mother Earth, whether we understand what's going on, or not.

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