Saturday, August 1, 2026
Science

'Out-of-place' rocks reveal how a young ocean formed

Deep below the Tyrrhenian Sea offshore Italy, scientists drilled into what they thought would be dark mantle rock—and found pieces of granite that seemingly had no business being there. Those unexpected intrusions turned out to offer a rare glimpse of how a massive fault rapidly pulled deep Earth ro...

'Out-of-place' rocks reveal how a young ocean formed
Image: Phys.org
Deep below the Tyrrhenian Sea offshore Italy, scientists drilled into what they thought would be dark mantle rock—and found pieces of granite that seemingly had no business being there. Those unexpected intrusions turned out to offer a rare glimpse of how a massive fault rapidly pulled deep Earth rocks toward the surface during the opening of a young ocean basin.

Originally published at Phys.org

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