Scientists Could Spark MEGAQUAKE As They Drill Below Earth’s Crust For First Time

Scientists Could Spark MEGAQUAKE As They Drill Below Earth’s Crust For First Time
2 DECEMBER, 2015
Scientists from Cardiff University are behind the mission, which hopes to bring the first ever samples of mantle – the rocky substance that makes up most of our planet between the crust and core – back to the surface to be studied. But the team also wants to investigate an area at the very heart of the seismic activity which triggers earthquakes and volcanoes. Professor Chris MacLeod, project co-leader, wants to investigate an area at the edge of the crust and mantle called the Moho boundary. It is a place where the seismic waves of earthquakes suddenly change speed.
This is because they go from the crust is made up of hard igneous rocks like granites and basalts, into the softer mantle. The area in question is called Atlantis Bank on the South West Indian Ridge of the Indian Ocean. It was chosen because faults and erosion have already thinned the crust there. The International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) project could allow scientists to examine for the first time untouched peridotite from the mantle a rock, rich in olivine minerals makes up the bulk of our world inside. However, drilling into such a seismically significant area has prompted fears the project could be a disaster and trigger a huge earthquake or volcano. Many scientists and campaigners now believe there is a direct link between deep drilling and man-made earthquakes.