New Magma Layer Found Deep in Earth's Mantle?

New Magma Layer Found Deep in Earth's Mantle?

A layer of searing hot liquid magma trapped since Earth's formation may lie 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometers) beneath our feet, new research suggests.

The finding backs up theories that Earth's solid lower mantle once housed a magma "ocean," and that some remnant of that molten material still exists today, like jam between two cake layers.

"Some models consider the [early] Earth to have been completely or largely molten, and people are looking for possible remnants or relics of this molten state," said study co-author Guillaume Fiquet of the Institut de Minéralogie et de Physique des Milieux Condensés at France's Université Pierre et Marie Curie.